The 2023 cross country team is comprised of 16 runners. They are coached by Patrick Belling and Mieke Slaba. This is Coach Belling’s third year coaching the Raider’s cross-country team. Senior members of the team are Jenny Barnett, Vincent Bechen, Caleb Zephier, Jason Weston and Owen Bekanich. There are four juniors including Presley Slaba, Lydia Yost, Jackson Rolston, Charlie Kocer. Lone sophomore Ryann Langdeaux and freshman/ middle school runners Taya Stone, Wyatt Roberts, Alex Reiter, Grady Bartunek, Sean Roberts and Cooper Slaba completing the team.

This summer the team par-ticipated in the Randall Creek Running Camp. Every member of this team plays a leadership role. This year’s goals are much like past season goals. The focus is always on having fun, improving personal times and records and qualifying runners for the state meet. Coach Belling expects the Beresford and Canton meets along with conference and region meets to be the most challenging for the runners. As a coach, Belling looks forward most to seeing the athletes have fun and improve throughout the season. His coaching philosophy is to try to have as much fun as possible. If they have fun and stay healthy, the student athletes will see results.