Dean said this year was one in which the Panthers set a base, one that he wants to build on for next fall.
“Going into next year, a big focus is going to be to keep promoting our sport,” he said. “We had 16 boys out this year and seven girls. Boys numbers were pretty good; I would still like to add a few more boys and get us around 20. We need to increase our number of girl runners. Seven was a small number this year, and I would really like to double that going into next season. If we can do that, I feel like we can build a very competitive girls’ team.”
Realizing their potential, Dean added, will take a lot of work, and he hopes the runners will carry the momentum they created this fall to the summer months.
“I would like for our team to get more miles in during the summer months,” he said. “That is something that will really benefit our team when we start the season. Coach Buerkle, Coach Kat and myself have already started on planning some things for summer and next season that we think will improve our team. We are very happy with the gains we made this season, but we are always wanting more, and expecting more from ourselves as coaches and our athletes.”
