Cross country runners Rhett Everhart and Izzy Stroud recieved senior excellence awards from Coach Tammy Wills for their hard work and dedication to the team on senior night, Tuesday, October 1.

Senior Rhett Everhart has been captain for two years, which is very unusual. He has been on the team since his freshman year and had some valuable advice for current and future runners.

“To all future cross country runners, I would say to enjoy the experience. Go through every moment on that team as slow as you can because it goes fast and you will miss it. Also, make sure to have as much fun as possible and get weird,” said Everhart.

Everhart stressed how much he will miss Cross Country after graduation.

“My favorite memories are putting a tree on Tammy’s porch, Evan Patterson’s acting at Philipsburg-Osceola, gorillas, underwater basket weaving, hardcore parkour, and the carwashes,” said Everhart.

Coach Tammy Wills is devoted to her team and will miss the seniors. She hopes her athletes will continue running when they are out of school.

“I like coaching because I get to introduce a sport that I love to new runners. I feel it is a sport that they can continue to do long after high school and even college. Many of my former runners are still running today. But most of all I love coaching because of the kids,” said Wills.

This season Coach Wills is impressed with the number of runners on the team. For some time the Cross Country teams didn’t have a lot of athletes competing.

“For a few years numbers were down, especially for the girls team. This wasn’t just at Tyrone… this was with many local teams. However in the last three years the numbers seemed to be climbing. I’m seeing a growing interest in our community, especially with the younger kids and I think this is helping Cross Country grow as a sport,” says Wills.

As the 2013 Cross Country season is coming to a close, Coach Wills is proud of her team and their success. Each of her runners has reduced their times since the start of the season and even though they haven’t won every meet, the individual success is evident.

“I have a great group of hard working runners. I see improvement in almost every race they run. We’re on the right track and things are where we need them to be at this point in the season,” said Coach Wills.