Strong air of optimism in boys’ camp

Standing around, cooling down and coming off a Friday morning run, the Canby-Minneota boys were filled with optimism.

“Lac qui Parle Valley will be tough ... but Mountain Lake Area lost most of their runners,” said Sean Dilley, a junior from Minneota. “We finished third so there’s always a chance we could get into the top two,” said senior Jalyn Ufkin.

Not that it’s going to be easy, but Coach Allyson Pesek is also optimistic, if the boys work hard.

“I’m very pleased with our boys. We have a lot of senior boys but also a lot of seventh graders, too, so maybe they’ll step up in the program,” she said.

“Even a couple of freshman are running well with the other boys.”

Gone is leader Anthony Wollum — but there’s a good core of returning veterans who like to run together in a pack. And Dilley said they have a theory.

“Maybe we don’t have Anthony’s time anymore, but if we each cut some time off, we can make up for it.”

Ufkin was also singing the song of optimism. “We just have to work hard and stick together,” he said.

A group of hard runners includes Nolan Harding, Alexander Full, Jared Josephson, Zach Hansen and Carter Wente. And they’ve been joined by freshman Blake Stoks, whom everyone believes will help the squad this year.

And another freshman, Tristan Bierschenk found himself in the mix the second half of last year and should also help the team this year.

This team won the meets at Deuel, SD and Luverne a year ago, so they know they can succeed.

At sections last year, Full finished 21st out of 144 runners with Josephson right behind him in 22nd place. So both have to be considered strong members of the team this year.

“Their strength will be experience. This group of boys have been running together for awhile — building from year to year,” said Coach Pesek.

While she likes them as a team, “We will need someone to step up in front of the pack,” said the coach.