2011 Season Wrap-up
November 15, 2011
All-League Honors
Ben Kedl – 1st Team
Caroline Bryan – 2nd Team
Seth Conley – 2nd Team
Stephen Cooper – 2nd Team
Mitch Bryan – Honorable Mention
All-State Academic
Aaron Blahut – 1st Team
Ben Kedl – 1st Team
Betsy Freeman – 1st Team
Stephen Cooper – 1st Team
Mitch Bryan – Honorable Mention
Seth Conley – Honorable Mention
Season Summary
The Valor Eagle Cross Country season had many highlights this 2011 season. As the school has continued to grow, so has the cross country team. This season saw more than 40 runners compete, including 12 new freshmen, making it the largest team to date. While both the guys and girls teams dealt with injuries, both still had their best seasons in school history.
Led by the strong senior leadership of Kelly Lasater and Betsy Freeman, the girls significantly improved their overall top five team average from 2010 by over one minute. The girls steadily improved each week and ran with great poise throughout the season. Freshman Caroline Bryan was a top 12 runner in her region and was the first girl in Valor history to qualify for the State Meet. She also set a school record in the 5k with a time of 19:52 at the Liberty Bell Invitational in Littleton.
The boys’ team also saw significant improvement this season as. Placed in far and away, the toughest of the five regions in state, the boys competed with determination, strength and heart week in and week out and had several top five and top ten finishes throughout the course of the season. Junior Ben Kedl and senior Seth Conley qualified for the state meet for the second year in a row and they narrowly missed qualifying as a team by a mere seven spots. Interestingly, the team that beat them out went on to take 10th overall at the state meet.