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Cross country squad has been putting in the work

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HARTINGTON — It would be hard for anyone to find a better cross country season for Hartington-Newcastle/Cedar Catholic head coach Mandy Hochstein.

It was a year ago that the now, ninth-year head coach celebrated her boys third-place finish in Class C that included the individual state championship by then-freshman Carson Noecker.

Throw in the girls finishing fifth at the district meet and Sara Reifenrath ending her career at the state meet before heading to the University of South Dakota and the 2019 season was as good as it gets.

Now, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the team will enter the fall with plenty of expectations still in place.

The boys will aim for their fourth straight conference title and a defense of the district crown they claimed a year ago while added a sixth such championship of the former during Hochstein’s time in charge.

But the program will have to replace the graduated Brayden Kathol, Chase Lammers, Bode Noecker, Cole Noecker, Jayda Bernecker and Reifenrath while reloading with nine returning veterans.

“Carson is a dedicated athlete and with his amazing team-oriented personality will be a great leader to our young and talented boys team,” Hochstein said. “We are still searching for an additional member to form a girls team.”

Hochstein noted the important return of senior Sara Burbach as one of the top runners on the girls side of the running paths.

“She has the potential and dedication to qualify and place at state this year,” Hochstein said of Burbach. “I’m also excited for our upcoming athletes, Alan Santiago, Parker Albers and Makenzie Arens. These three athletes have worked hard this summer to become better athletes. I’m excited to see the im provement in times from last year.”

“This year’s team is supportive and positive, they may be young, but their desire to compete is evident.

The squad can also call upon Keegan Carl, Lukas Wortmann, Jessica Opfer and Riley Kuehn to potentially step up and make some noise on the running paths.

Burbach is feeling very optimistic about the season since the harriers are even being given the opportunity to have one as the pandemic remains the main news on the front page.

“I have been in cross country for the past five years and it has become a big thing for me so it’s exciting to at least have hope for the season since we didn’t have a track season,” Burbach said. “It’s very important and even more exciting because everyone misses sports and school and everything. It’s been a really positive thing to have the hope for all sports this season.”

Burbach said the nature of the sport allowed for the runners to get plenty of workouts in during the summer.

“It was really up to us and how hard you wanted to push yourself,” she said. “I was able to keep in good shape and keep running. Sometimes we could get together with a few other girls and go for a run. Our girls numbers aren’t there, so we don’t have a full team and we can’t qualify as a team this year unless we recruit some other girls.”

Despite the low numbers on the girls side, Burbach said she is optimistic going forward.

“We have some good prospects,” Burbach said. “I am just happy to run and I know the other girls are too.

“I think it could be a good year. The boys are also younger and their numbers are also small too. But we are small and mighty.”

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