“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden Homecoming weekend brought a lot for the Vikings cross country team. From a mid-week parade and festival, the many student council members on the team working late on Thursday night decorating the hallways, to the pep rally and football game Friday night and dance on Saturday night that provides for an experience that will be remembered and cherished. The Vikings cross country team this year also had a member on the homecoming court as senior Addie Keplar represented her class, school, and team with majesty and class. In the midst of it all, the Vikings traveled to Olentangy Berlin for their most competitive race of the year. A race stacked with over 10 state ranked teams in their respective divisions, the competition was fast and deep. The Vikings were split into two races with the varsity racing first, followed by the open race. In the varsity race the Vikings placed 17th out of 23 teams. The Vikings were led by Reese Galinger who again worked a strong race strategy to move up throughout the race and place 10th (18:02.9). Addie Keplar remained a steady #2 runner for the Vikings as she continued to show improvement and strength finishing 33rd (19:04). Grace Thanasack and Kyleigh Cradlebaugh returned to racing for the 1st time since week 2 of the season and provided a nice spark for the Vikings finishing 79th (20:05) and 134th (21:17), respectively. Lauren Charter continued her ascent into being a strong varsity runner finishing 139th (21:29). Returning for her first race since week 1, Julie Charter ran a strong race to knock off some of the rust placing 156th (22:36). In the open, the Vikings placed 17th out of 17 teams. Leading the way for the Vikings was Iris Ardrey with her season best of 22:48 (82nd). Hannah Daniels continued her strong season running 24:48 (160th). Aubrey McKibben and Ellie Smith finished as the number three and number four runners for the Vikings, placing 188th (26:38) and 191st (27:01), respectively. Finishing out the scoring for the Vikings in the open race was Scarlett Mets, placing 197th (27:44). Mikaela Frabott showed a good push throughout the whole race to place 199th (28:31) and Shaeden Wymer took a remarkable 6 minutes off her previous best reason of the season placing 208th (35:29). As the Vikings prepare for their last regular race of the season, it is important they focus on the team, their team. It can be easy to chase times and results from other teams, and competition knowledge is important, but it is the steady day to day improvement that they control and that can help any team reach their goal, when it is the right time.