The Park Hill girls’ cross-country team will look to mirror last season’s success with many familiar faces returning.
Park Hill’s Abby Stevens is one of two seniors for the Park Hill girls’ cross-country team.
Natalie Gerdes is coming off an impressive sophomore campaign where she was an all-state runner, finishing in 16th place with a time of 18:37.1 in the Class 5 State Meet. After setting multiple program records last fall, Gerdes is dealing with an early season injury after having tenonitis in the aftermath of the track and field season.
“We have a pretty solid core back from last year,” Park Hill head girls’ cross-country coach Michael Sweney said. “Natalie is going to be competitive, and she is going to be in the mix and running good times.”
The Lady Trojans will have a loaded junior class in addition to Gerdes, including Ava Sullivan, Jordan Umstattd and Edith Fink. While none of them were able to make it to state last season, they’ve been putting in the work in the offseason.
“There are multiple junior girls who are competitive, they’ve just made it a great atmosphere, and part of the fun is just being more competitive; then I think you start to see improvement in your team and success. Regardless of the way things shake out, I’m proud of our runners and I really enjoy working with them,” Sweney said.
Park Hill will have two seniors this fall with Abby Stevens and Anna Higgs. With it being a small senior class, the two have become leaders for the Lady Trojans.
“We hit up those two seniors last spring just to challenge them to become more vocal and make sure they were doing their best to get everyone on board. I’m really proud of how they have stepped up,” Sweney said.
Park Hill also has a pair of up-and-coming freshmen, Kate Hance and Sydney Hendrix, who are looking to crack the varsity lineup. Sophomore Reagan Kastner will also add depth for the Lady Trojans.