OHS Journalism
Laney Marten
The 2024 Buffalo Cross Country team has been working hard and striving to meet goals so far this year. This week’s cross-country meet is in Onaga on the 17th. It is the TVL meet. Regionals will be in Sabetha this year.
There are 5 runners on the team: 2 seniors (Wyatt Boggs and Zach Peters) and 3 freshmen (Korvin Vandonge, Jesse Miller, and Darius Mosher). “The seniors have been good leaders and pushed the younger guys,” says coach Jason Claycamp. The team placed at one of their meets: Mission Valley. They placed 9th, and all of the boys ran well, and they all made new PR’s (personal records).
Jesse currently leads the team in race times. At the previous meeting, Jesse placed 29th out of around 80 boys. Jesse says that he went out for cross country to “stay in shape.” His favorite part of cross country is running the course. Jesse sets a goal each meet, which is to run under a 20 min 5K. Jesse's goal is for the team to beat their P.R’s.
Korvin Vandonge was close behind Jesse, placing 35th at the same meet. Korvin sets his goal each meet to run the course in 20 minutes… and to beat Jesse. Korvin went out for cross country because he also wanted to stay in shape for other sports. His favorite thing about cross country is getting food after their meets. Korvin’s team goal is for them to place higher and for everyone to run the course under 24 minutes. Korvin likes Coach Claycamp and says he is a “good inspirational talker.”
Darius is the final freshman team member. Darius went out for cross country because, “running is fun and not too hard.” Darius’ favorite part about cross country is making new friends. Darius has a goal every meet to support his team and become faster each meet. He also has a team goal for everyone to PR each meet.
Zach has been running cross-country all 4 years of high school. Zach did cross country because he also wanted to stay in shape. His favorite part of cross country is pushing himself to be better.
This is Wyatt’s first year running cross-country. Wyatt went out for cross country because he wanted to stay in shape and prove that he could. His favorite part of cross country is breaking his PR. Wyatt’s personal goal this season is to run sub 22:00 by the end of the season.
The team has done well this year and Coach Jason Claycamp hopes that many more students will go out for cross country in future years.