This year, three successful Spectrum cross country runners had the opportunity to compete in the state competition. Kaleb Jones and Hannah Boese set school and personal records this season, and runner Hope Back received all state honors as one of the top runners in the state.

Kaleb Jones says, “It’s a pretty big accomplishment. I mean I’ve been working towards it and I’m pretty close for the past 3 years now so it’s a pretty good feeling to finally have it happen.”

For these athletes, the opportunity to compete at the state meet shows their talent and physical capabilities that they work hard for in order to best represent Spectrum and themselves.

Hannah Boese says, “No Spectrum athlete has placed at the state meet before, so it felt good to leave that legacy my senior year and just make a name for Spectrum for the people that don’t really know that we exist.”

The assistant cross country coach, Kalvin Diekman, has many years of experience as both a Spectrum student, athlete, coach, and staff member. Diekman has seen many improvements on the team this year, as well as personal victories for athletes, and is proud of how they represent Spectrum and how far they have come.

Mr. Diekman says, “Spectrum is a high quality education school and I think that’ll translate well into their athletics that despite the high pressure of a state meet that they’ll be able to push past any barriers that competing at that level will kind of bring ahead.”

Boese had prepared for months for this meet.

Boese says, “I knew that if there was anybody who had prepared for the race, it would be me. Even though there’s girls with more talent than me, I knew that I had really put in the work. So, that helped me mentally throughout the race.”

No matter the results, these talented runners had the experience of a lifetime, as was Diekman’s greatest wish for them.

Diekman says, “I think just the experience itself, just being able to say that you’ve made it means a lot. So the experience that I had at state I want everybody else or as many people as possible to experience that as well. So for me, I’m really happy that these kids get that experience.

This Spectrum cross country season may be over, but the legacy built by these runners will be a part of Spectrum history forever.