EDC week is a time where everyone is getting ready for something different but the same in some ways. Some are getting ready to defend EDC championships, while others are getting ready to run a PR, some will run their last race of their career while some finish their first season. But everyone is getting ready to run with central across their chest with pride, and everyone wants the team to do great and keep up the tradition of greatness that has proceeded us. You can feel that the week leading up to EDC is just a little different. Everyone is working extra hard in speed workouts, or doing a little extra stretching. And when the last day of the week comes the day before EDC everyone is both excited and sad at the same time. They are excited for the day that is to come and sad because we all know it is the last time we will all be together as a group.
We went to EDC and accomplished most of our goals, the girls won their 4th EDC title in a row by 3 points over Fargo Davies, showing how every runner matters, the boys were 1 point off of 5th, we had a few PR's on difficult course.  We also came home with an individual EDC champion, 6 all conference runners, a senior athlete of the year finalist, and edc girls coach of the year.  So, I guess you could say that it ended up being a pretty good day.

Fargo Davies made the GFC girls battle for their 4th straight EDC title.  They started the race strong by placing 10 runners between our 3rd and 4th runner.  With about 1K to go, the Davies girls still had control of the team title, but Mikayla and Aislinn started to charge to and pass runners, moving up to 10th and 15th overall to help the girls capture their 4th title in a row, and defeating Davies by only 3 points.  Karly Ackley won her 4th consecutive individual title and also was voted the EDC Girls Cross Country Senior Athlete of the year.  Teammate Alexis Roehl finished second, followed by Rachel Torrey in 4th.  All top five of Centrals girls earned all conference honors. 

​Senior Richie Osborn lead the boys into the chute by placing 8th over all, earning him all conference honors.  Senior Aaron Springer (22nd), Senior Kohlton Peterson (36th), 8th grader Ryan Meyer (37th), and Senior Zach Nelson lead the Central boys to team finish of 6th place, one point out of 5th.  This was a great finish for the boys since coming into the season they were ranked 10th out of 10 teams at the start of the season!

       Last week was a really really big week for our team. Had some tough speed workouts as we got ready for two really important meets in our schedule. On Saturday 10 varsity girls raced at the Roy Griak meet, one of the best known college/high school meets in the country. Against a very tough field on an insanely muddy and hilly course we were able to pull off a 15th place finish our of 49 teams, beating all other North Dakota teams that were there including Davies and Bismarck high. This was good practice for when we get to more big meets soon, like state and Nike regionals.

      While we were in Minneapolis, the rest of the team was only about an hour away at the Milaca Mega Meet. With the course being equally as muddy and still hilly, the team had a lot of fun racing at the largest high school cross country meet in the nation. Since the conditions weren't ideal, PRs were hard to come by but we still had a few people who were able to do it!
   
Next week will be a little bit more of a relaxing week with not having to travel for a meet, since we race at home. It should be exciting to see what everyone will be able to do on our home course!

Karly Ackley, Senior Captain