The Yelm High School cross country team is quickly approaching the South Sound Conference league championship meet.
The Tornados' last regular season meet was set for Wednesday, Oct. 12 at Capital High School, before the SSC Championship meet on Thursday, Oct. 20.
Yelm cross country’s head coach Alex McIntyre said there are ups and downs to having the majority of his team’s competition in September. McIntyre said the September meets allow his team to transition to better and tougher workouts as the postseason nears, but noted the early season races limit the team’s workouts at the start of the season.
McIntyre said runner Zach Walsh is coming off of an all-time best Tornado performance at the Curtis Invitational at Chambers Bay Golf Course. Out of 1,050 total runners, Walsh finished in third.
“Zach is as good as anybody in the state,” McIntyre said. “That was the best placing at the invite by any Yelm High School athlete ever and we have some depth to back him out.”
The team has built great depth throughout the season, McIntyre said, and will continue to improve through consistent workouts leading to the postseason.
This year features the largest cross country team he has coached at Yelm High School.
“There’s strength in numbers, and we’ve made it a priority to try and get as many runners out here as we can,” McIntyre said. “We’ve upped our social media game to try and recruit more of our students to join us. I’ve taken it upon myself to do some of the recruiting as well, but our team leaders do a good job of getting more people out here.”
McIntyre said the WIAA hasn’t released allocations yet, but he believes there will be six teams that move on from districts to state. He added that Yelm’s top seven runners and two alternates will move to districts, following the SSC Championship.
“If our runners do what they’ve been doing all season, they’ll be one of those teams to move on to state,” McIntyre said. “But we have to hit consistent and tough workouts before we get there, if we want to qualify.”
The team is relatively inexperienced as seven of the team’s 12 runners are new to cross country. He said they’ve been able to improve as the season progressed due to their strong work ethic.
McIntyre added there is a huge mental aspect to running.
“I believe that belief is such a big component to this sport. There’s such a mental aspect to it that you need to have belief,” McIntyre said. “We’re doing these workouts to build belief before the postseason, which I believe is a good thing.”
Overall, McIntyre is proud of the team for creating a culture that is fun and welcoming.
“I love this team. This culture is on fire and these boys know how to have a good time,” McIntyre said. “But they also know when it’s time to have fun and when it’s time for business.”
The South Sound Conference league championship is set for Thursday, Oct. 20, at Fort Steilacoom in Lakewood.
