Sumner-Eddyville-Miller Cross Country Smith leads team with state berth
Even though the S-E-M XC team only had three runners during the 2020 season, it did not stop them from trying their best and improving each day. This hard-working mentality helped sophomore Josie Smith qualify for the state meet.
“When we closed school
at the end of last year, we obviously didn’t get to have a track season and Josie was determined to begin her Cross Country off-season in March,” Kappel said. “She put in many, many miles over the spring and summer prior to this fall. She has been completely self-mo
tivated to get better and takes every time and placing personally. It is also an advantage for her that she has to run with boys as we have no other high school girls out for Cross Country.”
On the boy’s side, Gage Scheldewitz and Navarre Plagmann were each able to overcome their obstacles to improve their performances. Scheidewitz was coming off an ACL injury in the Spring and Plagmann was thrown into varsity competition as a freshman.
We saw lots of improvement on both teams this year. Gage was recovering from an ACL tear from last school year and competed well despite not being 100%,” Kappel said. “Josie became a state qualifier this year where she didn’t make it last year so that is a huge improvement for her.”
One of the biggest pluses for Kappel with this group is that they are very reliable. While on maternity leave she was able to leave workouts with the group and trust they would get them done.
“I came into the season a few weeks late as I was on maternity leave with my 3rd baby,” Kappel said. “What I love most about this team is that they make my job super easy. I give them the workouts and they are really good about pushing and celebrating each other.