On Saturday, Sept. 18, the Millard West Cross Country team made the three hour drive to Pella, Iowa, to compete in one of the biggest meets of the season.

The Heartland Classic, which is hosted at the Central College XC Course, is one of the largest and most competitive meets of the cross country season. This year the meet consisted of top teams from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota. On the boys side there were a total of 43 teams, while the girls side had 40.

Despite facing some of the most difficult competition they would all year, the Millard West teams fared very well. In the varsity boys race, senior Sam Kirchner led the way for Millard West and finished with a time of 15:40, putting him third overall. Junior Pierze Marshall crossed the line 10 seconds later, giving him a seventh place finish. Just 12 seconds later senior Seth Fey crossed the line in 13th place with a time of 16:02. Sophomore Jack Witte finished his race 15 seconds after Fey, yielding him a 19th place finish. Shortly after Witte, senior Cole Haith crossed the finish line in 23rd place with a time of 16:22. Nine seconds after Haith, junior Joey Hartnnett crossed the line in 28th place. Rounding out the Wildcat runners was sophomore Porter Bickley who finished in 34th place with a time of 16:36.

“We performed great, beating out last year’s state champs and winning the meet with 43 male teams in it,” Fey said. “For me the second mile was the best; I made sure I pushed the pace and didn’t lay off. I’ve improved so much over summer training and this season it is reassurance me and the team are getting fitter and better each week.”

The varsity girls team also did well considering the stiff competition. Leading the way for Millard West was junior Isabelle Hartnett who finished in tenth place with a time of 19:11. One minute and two seconds later, sophomore Brianna Hernandez crossed the line in 40th place. Junior Samantha Ullman finished with a time of 20:52 with freshman Kate Ebmeier just a split second behind, they finished in 61st and 62nd respectively. Not long after, sophomore Thea Kutash crossed the line in 82nd place with a time of 21:08. Four seconds and four positions later senior Sammi Vojslavek finished the race.

The final race the Wildcats competed in was the boys junior varsity race where Millard West had four runners competing. The team was led by senior Christian Naujokaitis who finished in second place overall with a time of 17:14. Shortly after Naujokaitis, senior Drew Figura crossed the line in sixth place with a time of 17:31. Junior Logan Yarges finished in 45th place with a time of 18:43. Rounding out the Wildcat field of runners was senior Braedon Johnson who finished with a time of 19:35 and in 100th place.

“I feel that the start went the best and I was leading the race for about the first mile,” Naujokaitis said. “It felt unreal knowing I was leading one of the biggest races of the day. The feeling was unreal. I was all smiles after the race.”

Once all of the races were completed, scores were tallied and awards were handed out. The girls varsity team finished in seventh place with a total of 246 points. The boys varsity team scored 46 points and finished in first place overall, winning the meet.

“Our varsity team was very amped to win this meet seeing how a lot of competitive teams from the heartland region came, and we prevailed out of them all,” Marshall said. “To put such a wide point gap on the second best team in the state, we couldn’t help but feel proud of that performance. I think our team is very capable of winning state this year, and as of this moment, we are the favorites to win state.”

The Millard West varsity teams competed very well in this meet with both teams placing in the top 10. They hope to continue this success into their next meet, the Rim Rock Classic, in Lawrence, Kansas.