The feeling of being so close to achieving something, yet falling just short. Having triumph within your reach only to be disappointed with the outcome. Trying your best, and your best not being good enough.

We all know it, we all despise it.

One sports team at MCHS that knows this especially well is varsity boys cross country. And this year they are coming back strong to avenge it.

“I think we are going to come back and surprise some people,” coach Kevin Gummerson said, “They’re hungry this year, and they want to get a team back at Detweiller Park (where the state meet is).”

Last season, the boys placed 6th at the Granite City sectional, only eight points short of qualifying for state. They also achieved 4th place at the SPC meet and 4th at regionals over the course of the championship series. The only state qualifier was Jason Hoffman, junior, as he placed 4th overall in sectionals.

“The first thing we want to see from our kids is that they love running and develop a lifelong passion for it. Then we want them to work hard to accomplish their goals as a part of this team,” Gummerson said.

The overall team goal is always to put forward their best effort and create the best group of people possible in order to achieve the higher level of competition in which Minooka cross country has been known to succeed. The hope is that this will be done by returning to state.

All seven boys who ran in the sectional meet during the 2017 season are returning this year. Seth Joder, a senior who was a part of this team, hopes to improve his times and become a better teammate as he closes out his cross country career in high school.

“You can’t play defense in our sport. You just can’t,” Gummerson explained, “If we can focus on us running our best race, then everything else will fall into place.”

In the SPC, however, Plainfield South and Oswego East are said to be the toughest opponents that Minooka will have to face if they are going to return to Detweiller and win the conference championship this October.

“I can get pretty nervous usually, but coming into this season I hope to beat my personal record,” Cameron Cimino, junior, said, “I am feeling good though because I have grown closer with my teammates over summer training.”

Cross country teams will get their first taste of the competition tomorrow, Saturday, Aug. 25 at Maxwell Park in Normal, where they placed 1st last year. Gummerson hopes they will be able to claim this title again this season.