For the first time in nearly a decade, the only Polman associated with the Independence cross country team is head coach Craig Polman.
Not only are the Blue Devils lacking a Polman on the roster, they’re short on upperclassmen as well.
“It’s very different this year,” Coach Polman said. “Last year we had frontrunners on both the girls and boys side and this year it’s a lot of new people. Out of the people that ran at the meet on Saturday, we had five out of 10 that are in their first year of high school cross country and some of them are in their first year of cross country ever. It was nice to have a full team at the meet, so that’s good. We’re a little more focused on team and development because everybody is young. We have no seniors and just one junior.”
A pair of freshmen paced the Blue Devils.
Makenna McGhee finished 42nd in the girls’ race with a time of 21:43.
“Makenna came into practice in August in the best shape out of anybody and she’s very talented, so she ran a pretty good race, especially considering it was her first high school race and she has to adapt to the 3.1 mile distance,” Polman said. “She has a bright future ahead for herself. My biggest concern is she is a soccer player too. While I’ve had many girls and boys that have played soccer in the past, she is a little more focused on playing soccer and doing more of the training on her own so I’m a little nervous to see how that works out.”
Freshman Collin Patton led the Independence boys with a 109th place finish in 19:20.
“Collin is going to be a good runner someday,” Polman said. “He’s going to have much better races than he did on Saturday. He is young and he basically attacks but he’s not in good enough shape yet to go out and maintain the pace he went out in yesterday and he faded in the second half of the race. As he progresses and gets in better shape and gets more experience he’ll run much faster this season. He’ll be our No. 1 runner.”
Sophomore Emily Skoczen placed 52nd with a time of 22:08 and sophomore Josie Lee turned in a surprising finish with her time of 25:09 in her first high school race.
“Emily ran a race pretty consistent with her opening race last year,” Polman said. “She trained over the summer, but that was a lot of short runs so she’s really building her miles now. Josie was the biggest surprise for me. She is a sophomore but this is her first year of cross country. She basically surprised me by being our No. 3 runner. I thought her performance was a very bright spot considering the minimal training that she’s done and the minimal time she spent with the sport.”
Emma Wensink (26:19) and Izabell McGreevy (26:41) also ran for the Blue Devils in the girls’ race.
Freshman P.J. Oschmann also ran well in the boys’ race with a time of 20:31.
“P.J. is a pretty good freshman too,” Polman said. “He’s not as aggressive as Collin but he’s steady. He’s going to improve a lot too. Both are pretty hard workers. They’re just adjusting to high school and racing a little longer and learning what it takes.”
Wyatt Balser (22:26), Thorin Chappel (24:43) and Greg Adams (25:01) all knocked off time from their first race last season.
“They have a long way to go but they all improved their times significantly over last year,” Polman said. “Wyatt dropped about four minutes, Greg dropped about two minutes and Thorin dropped a minute and a half off their times from this meet last season. They made noticeable progress.”
The Blue Devils travel to the Avon Lake Cross Country Invitational at Lorain Community College on Sept. 2.
