South Haven News

By Emmalee Burden

The South Haven Cross Country team competed at State on Nov. 2, 2024. They ran at the Wamego, Kansas golf course with five runners. They had their girl’s team of four, which consisted of Annabelle Burden, Addison Heater, Avery Strickland, and Makenzie Callison, and one boy, Eli Buettgenbach, who was an individual qualifier.

The team overcame the obstacles and ran their hearts out. When asked how the course was, Addison Heater said, “It was cold and wet and muddy and it sucked.” Annabelle Burden Made a similar comment, saying, “It was a really fun course, although it was very muddy and torn up from the races before. It was kind of like a slip-n-slide in some places.”

This was their last race of the season. Burden said, “It was overall a great season. We had a big group of middle schoolers and quite a few high schoolers. There were many injuries throughout this season, but we were able to overcome those issues and persevere. We had many people medal at a majority of the races and some races where practically the whole team medaled. The season for me was kind of rocky in the beginning; I was kind of in a rough spot with many issues, but throughout the season I finally started improving and by League and Regionals, I had some huge improvements as well as the rest of the team. “

Overall the team did great and has a very promising season next year. They have many great athletes and will continue to grow for the years to come.