The girls cross country team finished sixth and the boys team placed 16th on Saturday at the Youthtowne Invitational.
There were 16 girls teams and 20 boys teams at the invitational.
“There were lots of teams we were unfamiliar with and don’t usually run against,” sophomore Bella Niles said.
Sophomore Jules Ott feels the weather conditions played a part.
“I think the team did well overall but not great. Nobody really had a breakthrough day, but I think that was caused by the weather. It was cold in the morning then got hot out of nowhere and I think that affected the way some people ran, including myself,” Ott said.
There were some bright spots for Baldwin.
“Senior Kenzie Hirt ran well and got 19th overall, and sophomore Alex Castaneda placed 42nd overall,” Ott said.
The Highlanders kept a high energy throughout the race, sophomore McKinley Beech said.
“The team stayed energetic throughout the whole invitational and pushed each other the whole way through the race,” Beech said.
Beech feels the teams worked hard but not as hard as they wanted to.
“Although the energy was high going into the race, we just did not get the outcome we were hoping for,” Beech said.
The things the teams need to improve on are simple, yet crucial to success.
“We can just continue to work hard at practice and continue to get racing strategies from our coaches and hopefully that will have our whole team overall running better,” Beech said.
Niles also feels there is more work to be done outside of practice.
“For upcoming meets, we need to eat well and stay hydrated the day before and day of races,” Niles said.
The Highlanders’ next meet is Tuesday at Moon Area High School.
