by Asher Hirt ’25
September 26, 2023
USN’s boys’ cross-country team has a lot to look forward to this year. The “most winningest team in history,” according to Eli Galentino ‘24, is coming off back-to-back state titles.
Last season featured a strong group of runners that excelled at state, scoring 52 points collectively. The runner-up, Christian Academy of Knoxville, scored a collective 82 points as a team.
Despite last year’s dominant performance, repeating in 2023 could come with some challenges as a result of USN’s top two runners leaving. Austin Cason ‘23 ran a 5K in 16:41. He finished the race third overall at state and was a leader of the team. Ryder Ortner ‘26, a dominant runner who ran a 5k in 17:14 and finished sixth at state, transferred schools.
Losing these vital runners could hurt the outlook on the upcoming season; however, George Flatau, head coach of the cross country team, explained that the team went through a similar situation last year and still emerged on top.
“Every year there’s a talented group of kids that are on the team that are not on the team next year. In [2021], we had a really good team,” Flatau said. “And then for [2022], we lost four of our top five fastest runners….[but] we still won state that year so there’s no reason why we can not win it again this year.”
Before a race, Flatau uses strategies that help the team improve their time.
“We do visualization; we can walk them through a little bit of meditation, but talking about the course and visualizing the race helps. There is a lot of science-backed evidence that says it is really effective in improving times,” Flatau said.
Flatau strengthens the runners by not only preparing them physically, but also mentally. Runners with the right mentality will help improve their time tremendously. Flatau spreads this “winner’s” mentality by emphasizing the importance of hard work, perseverance, and determination.
“I think the culture of the team is one, like I said, that values hard work, but enjoying the hard work that you need to do to get better at something,” Flatau said.
Improving times helps runners in reaching personal goals that they have set for the season. Flatau described his ultimate goal from a coach’s perspective.
“The goal every year is to have people enjoy the experience of working hard while getting better,” Flatau said.
However, runners Clay Payne ‘25, and Jack Fruin ‘27 both have slightly more ambitious goals for the season.
“I definitely want to win state again this year and that is what I am focused on. Last year when we eventually came out as champions, it was the highlight of my season,” Payne said.
Fruin agreed with Payne.
“I would love the team to win state. I think that’s the end goal. The individual title—that wouldn’t be too bad, just win state for myself as well. I want to run sub 16:30,” Fruin said.
Payne and Fruin know that there is a lot of work to be done. As leaders of the team this year, there are a lot of ways they can lead and bring the team together.
“As a team, we always do ‘Yes, Bro, Yes,’ [a group cheer] at the beginning of meets. It’s like a way of showing that we got each other in the race,” Payne said.
This year’s lively group of runners have a tight bond and are already off to a solid start this season. On September 9, the team placed fourth out of 35 teams at the Chickasaw Trails Invitational. The trip to Alabama was a fun, yet needed step in the progression of the team this year. Caspar Schmidt ‘25 had a stand-out performance and attained a new personal record. He ran 19:04 and finished 55th overall.
The team will race this Saturday at the Louisville XC Classic. This meet will prepare them for the challenge they will face at state. This year’s team has a bright future ahead of them, but they will have to battle their way to a three-peat.
