Kahok cross country begins season on Saturday
by Mark Jurgena
New Collinsville High School boys and girls cross country coach Adam Blair and his harriers get their season underway on Saturday morning at the Mascoutah Invitational.
Blair has 14 boys and 10 girls on this year’s squads.
“I’m excited honestly,” began Blair. “We had seven girls last year and only ran with five of them so to double the number is huge. We’re returning all the guys that came back and added seven new ones. That’s an awesome return for us.”
Among the returners for the boys are sophomore Chase Cummins who was an Honorable Mention All-SWC pick a season ago. Cooper James, Will Slazinik, James Cline and Daniel Gutierrez are just some of those who will compete for the Kahoks this fall.
“It’s tough to say in the Southwestern Conference so I don’t want to get too ambitious about it,” began Blair. “But Chase the way he’s been running and what he’s been doing all summer. The amount of miles he put in during the summer; he’s been consistent, he’s been hard working. Hopefully he can be up there in the all-conference rankings.
“But overall I would just love to get a team advancement to the sectional meet. We haven’t done that in a few years.”
One season ago the Kahoks couldn’t quite get a qualifier out from the regional to the sectional round in either boys or girls.
For the girls, Danielle Cary, Morgan Laing and Catalina Jimenez are all senior returners from a year ago. Junior Claire Garkie also returns for another season.
While Blair was excited about his number of athletes he preferred to focus on how they progressed through the summer and how things are going now as they work toward the season.
“The girls’ side we haven’t advanced anybody in a couple of years,” said Blair. “The same idea I have with Chase I have with Dani and Morgan. They showed up all summer and their times have been consistently dropping. They have a chance to advance to the sectional as well. I’m really hoping so for their sake because they worked every day this summer to make some kind of all-conference ranking; somewhere on one of the teams.
The annual Kahok Invite will be on Sept. 18 with the SWC meet coming on Oct. 15.
Collinsvillle will begin the postseason on Oct. 26 in regional competition.
