With small roster, Vikings have big plans

With just five students out for cross country for the AHSTW Vikings, head coach Jackson Renberg is excited and eager to see what his team could be capable of accomplishing.
Ava Paulsen, Makenna Paulsen, Yana Lander, and Bella Lamp are returning students, while Emery Brockhoff is joining the team for the first time as an incoming freshman.
“I am very excited to have four girls back from the previous season,” Renberg said. “I am also excited about the new freshman runner Emery Brockhoff that we have coming up. Emery has been a great addition to the team with a very good attitude and work ethic that her other teammates feed off of. Ava Paulsen is a returning individual state qualifier for last year and she has looked good in practice. She had a very strong track season and we look forward to coaching her this cross country season. Kenna Paulsen has also had a very strong start of the season and we hope to continue to build on it. She’s a very good kid that I believe has had better form and better paces early on in the season. Yana Lander is also one we are fortunate to have as she has been a consistent runner in our program since she was in Junior High. She has been improving in the right way thus far in the season. We just need to keep building her endurance and form up every day.”
The Vikings will open their season Aug. 27 at the Shenandoah Early Bird event, where they will be one of 14 schools in attendance.
“I think the Shenandoah meet is going to be a good indicator of where we are as a whole team and individually early on in the season,” Renberg added. “The biggest thing is going to be mentally tough and trusting their training, pushing themselves to get better. We want to use every day and every meet to get better, and that meet will be no different. However, it will be good to run against other teams and individuals and see where we stack up early in the season and go out and compete.”
Last year at the Shenandoah Early Bird, Lamp was the fastest among all the Vikings girls taking an eighth place finish overall 23:31.33, just under four minutes behind the winner, Lindsey Sonderman of Harlan Community, who won the event with 19:38.06.
Lamp also took a sixth place finish at the Logan-Magnolia Invitational with 21:00.84, seventh place at the Treynor Invite with 23:10.19, 11th place at the Nodaway Valley Invite with 23:14.90, and seventh place at the 1A State Qualifying Meet at Mount Ayr with 21:11.30.
“Bella had a very good freshman year qualifying for state individually and helping our team qualify for state,” Renberg said. “Bella is a talented athlete, but more importantly she is a hard worker that does the little things right every time. She’s one that does the right things over and over and it compounds to her being more successful than just her talent allows. I am excited to see her continue to grow and hopefully improve her times as she has had a very strong summer as well and a good start to the season.”
Renberg has been having the girls practice and been making it clear to them what will be important to have a strong season.
“Most important thing is doing the small things right and building off of each day,” he said. “We know that everything isn’t going to perfect itself right away. Sports in general is about improving yourself each and every day to become the best athlete and person you can be. Thus far this season the group has been successful in doing this and if we continue we will be a very strong team. We have also wanted to continue to emphasize form as it will help them run faster and more efficiently. This is a hard process, but the girls are going to continue to work on it to become better runners and athletes.”
However, Renberg knows the challenges that come with a long season, but knows if body management takes place and staying hydrated with the proper nutrition, the less that will occur.
“The biggest challenge we have in cross country is our team numbers,” he added. “We have a great group of kids for our girls high school team. The biggest thing is making sure we take care of our bodies and making sure we prevent injuries by doing the small things right like nutrition, hydration, stretching, and sleep. The group is a very dedicated team and we look forward to continuing to push them to get better as the season goes on.”