Can Eagle XC fly just as high?

AFTON — East Union’s girls cross country squad heads into 2017 without the benefit of several leaders who have hung around since the beginning.

Emma Harper, Jena Proffitt and Allison Hadley were leaders in a program that has only existed four seasons and now enters its fifth without those runners.

Led by those three seniors a year ago, the Eagles won the Pride of Iowa conference meet in Mount Ayr last October.

Now, they look to mark new territory led by a bunch with much less experience.

“We might not have a top five finisher like Jena or Emma was, but ... as a team, still I think a really solid team to compete with,” coach Rich Bryson said.

Sidney McFee and Molly McNeill, both with one year of varsity experience, will be asked to pick up the slack this fall.

A young group of Kate Sutton and Taylor Miller looks to produce immediately and the Eagles will be rearing to get out and running soon.

“I’ve also seen a group that are freshman now run successfully for two years,” Bryson said.

“We’ve been running all summer. We’re ready to go,” he added.

Others further down the roster, as well as a young boys squad, will try to push the Eagle girls back toward the front of the conference.

Where the Eagles will draw much of their competitive fire, and enjoyment of running, will be from the lessons and teachings of the seniors that came before them. Bryson noted that despite baiting McFee into running cross country by doubling down on a free throw shooting bet (that the basketball-playing McFee missed on), Bryson got McFee to agree to come out for the sport last year.

Such goofy exchanges, and the camaraderie of the sport, has made coaching cross country more enjoyable for Bryson than he anticipated before starting the program.

“They’re a fun group to be around,” Bryson said. “The climate those seniors created is a very positive climate. The kids encourage each other a lot. If someone comes in and does their workout first thing they walk back out on the course to bring their teammates in.”

Not that the Eagles are satisfied with just doing OK.

They know 2017 will be a growing process, but success is the expectation.

“I’m not training for the people that are behind you, I’m training you because we’ve got people in front of you we’ve got to catch,” Bryson said. “Some have given talent, and some of them are working just as hard as you are. Now you’ve got to go that extra step.”

One final thing that Bryson hopes his runners keep on their minds throughout the season is how important each varsity runner was down the roster on the squad’s way to a POI title a year ago, and ho the team can carry that lesson into this season.

“Emma, Jena and Allison didn’t win meets by themselves,” Bryson said. “It was all of them. It was five to seven girls running well as a team.”

Should this group of young and inexperienced girls carry over the lessons of last year’s talented senior class, they might even surprise themselves.