The Rose City golf course was transformed into a Cross Country course the morning of Oct. 10 in preparation for the fifth annual Rose City championship. In the past, it has seen many Cleveland runners performing at their best, however, it is notorious for its challenging hilly landscape.

The meet began with middle school events taking place followed by the bronze and silver events. At 1 p.m. the junior varsity championship and varsity runners began showing up to the course. As the last runners of the varsity silver finished their final lap, the junior varsity championship began warming up. 

Leading up to the races, team captain Owen Threadgill said, “We are really hoping to PR. It’s one of our last races this season, so one of our last chances.”

Threadgill’s hopes were realized when the junior varsity championship runners saw 11 new personal records for Cleveland runners.

Next came the varsity races with Kai Jensen being one of the stars of the race. Jensen came up just shy of a PR, but still placed 15th out of 183 runners. After the race Jensen said it went “pretty good. “Our team beat Grant and we are now ranked seventh in the state and 3rdin the league.”

Getting the team win over PIL rival Grant was the highlight of the meet as athletes are preparing for the PIL district meet happening Oct. 29. The meet was quite a success for Cleveland, with many athletes setting new personal records and the Cleveland team ranking moving up, just what the team needed going into its final few races.