Minutes after members of the 2025 varsity boys cross country team thought they qualified for sectionals, they found out the results were off by one point, ending the season.
“That was hard,” said senior Luke Lundgaard. “Our team took that personally and wanted to work in the offseason. Now this season we’re looking better than ever.”
According to head coach Bill Race, “They came into the summer working really hard and running far more miles than they have in years past, [and] because of that hard work over the summer, that allows us to do more advanced and stronger work.”
The team increased its mileage from 30 to 60 miles per person each week with two athletes reaching over 900 miles in the summer, including sophomore Rex Bishop.
“You can force yourself to [run], but if you don’t want to, it makes [running] a million times harder,” said Bishop. “You have to want to run. You have to want to be better.”
The team traveled to Peoria for the Detweiller at Dark meet this past July. Lundgaard organized the Peoria trip and got cabins for the athletes.
“He works with everyone [and] talks to everyone,” said Bishop. “I think he’s probably one of the big reasons that we’re … so close.”
According to Race, Lundgaard walks the walk in terms of leading by example, but is a vocal leader as well.
“Sometimes you have a quiet leader, sometimes a leader who leads by his actions and sometimes you have a leader who’s just very loud,” said Race. “[Lundgaard is] all three of those.”
The team placed 9th at Lake Park on Sept. 12 with Lundgaard leading Glenbrook North in the race.
It’s really nice to see how far the team has come, but we still have a long way to go, Lundgaard said.
According to Race, the team feels like they can be competitive for conference and it is an achievable goal.
“This group has the talent to achieve anything, so really our goal is going to be to try to stay healthy and to race well so that we can have the season that we are hoping for,” Race said.
According to Lundgaard, the team has never had its top runners be as committed as they are this year.
“I’ve been running since my freshman year, and this is the most I’ve ever ran,” said Lundgaard. “I’m really excited to see what’s going to happen for the rest of the season and see where this season leads to.”
Editor’s note: The team placed 2nd at the Bill Dawson Invite on Sept. 19 at Warren High School. Sophomore Rex Bishop placed 4th, followed by senior Luke Lundgaard in 8th and junior Leo Vaksin in 12th in the varsity race.