2024 Burke XC Schedule
A breakdown of the meets and courses Burke XC will be running.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME CROSS COUNTRY?!
Somehow summer conditioning is over, practice has begun, and in less than three weeks Burke XC has its first meet. Here’s where Burke XC is running with some thoughts about the meets and courses.
August 31 / Class of the Metro
A new entry into Burke’s XC schedule. This event takes place at Walnut Creek, where the Metro XC Championship is held. Last year, the course was changed, and depending on who you ask you’ll hear the change is better or worse. Personally, I think the changes make the race more tactical, but I’m not the one running!
In the past, some parts of the trail have been uneven, so runners need to be mindful of their footing. Especially early on in the race where if they are bunched together they can get pinched on some points of the course. The runners cover two loops of the course, with a steep hill right before the midpoint and finish. Last year, I watched the hill chew up a few runners as they made their push to the finish. I also remember Burke runner Brady Waldmann charging up the hill the second time through to set a PR and make varsity for Districts.
Running two loops means people can stay put near the start/finish and watch the runners a few times. You can go back onto the trails, but it can be tricky for some to navigate where to go. Plus, there may not be a lot of sight lines once crowds start forming where runners can be seen.
This event will be run by class. Seniors run against seniors alone. Juniors run against juniors alone. So on, and so on. For underclassmen, it sets up nicely as they get race experience against their class peers. For our upperclassmen, it’s a chance to settle into race mode against runners they’ve competed against for a few years.
In year’s past we’ve only run the course at Metro. One reason we added this meet is to run on the course before the Metro XC Championship. This year’s Burke XC team has the most depth amongst its upperclassmen since before the pandemic. If they want to compete at Metro XC, we need to put them in the best possible position to do so. Thus, we are running at Class of the Metro.
September 7 / Burke Invite
Traditionally, this is the first meet of the season, but obviously this year it isn’t. That could be a good thing because we see a number of runners make jumps with their times from their first to second race. Being able to run a strong race at their school’s invitational, in front of family and friends, will be wonderful for them.
Walnut Grove is the course Burke XC knows best. We aren’t sure how the course is looking after all the severe storms, but we know our friends at Millard South (who practice there) are probably doing some clean up already.
I think the course is fast and fair. There are some hills, but also plenty of flat portions for runners to unleash the speed. Some runners also take advantage of “running the tangent” (perhaps some take too much advantage) on this course because of how wide open it is on some curves. There are numerous places for fans to watch the races and cheer on the runners. As a spectator, it’s my favorite course to watch a race.
September 12 / Platte River Rumble
A new addition to the meet schedule last year, the course at Mahoney State Park generated a lot of discussion after a multitude of runners set personal bests. Personally, I think it’s an awesome experience for the runners. It’s a course that collegiate runners are competing on, and a chance to see how fast you can go if conditions are good. Plus, the music, the food trucks, and the larger crowds add to the overall experience.
Because it’s a new event, and colleges are competing there, it seemed to me the course was held to a higher standard compared to already established high school courses. Prep Running Nerd did a breakdown about the course, and it would be interesting to see how other area courses would hold up under such scrutiny. I have heard that the team behind the event are doing everything they can to make it better this year.
Numerous Burke XC runners set personal bests at this event last year, and I know some are already looking forward to running it again.
I like seeing so many schools, from different classes, compete against each other. A chance to compete against the best before championship season. Last year it was great watching Jack Witte (Class A) and Riley Boonstra (Class B) battle each other all the way to the finish. It’s one of the few opportunities for that during the season.
September 20 / Norfolk Invite
This course at Skyview Park seems straightforward, but the past two years it has been a struggle for the team. When I talk with Liam, this is a course we often come back to discussing. If you start off too relaxed, you can put yourself in a difficult position on the back end of the course. If you need to make up ground it gets difficult because of the hills over the final 2K. (“The last 1200 is the worst there.” -Liam) The downhill before the finish you think would be easy, but it is steep. For some it can seem like you are barely in control as you go downhill, and then you are right back uphill before the finish.
Liam missed out on a medal at this meet last season because he went out too relaxed over the opening of the race. He had too much ground to make up when he kicked into gear, and it was hard to move up in positioning over the final 2K due to the hills. I remember him being off on his own after the race, sitting by the lake, wondering what just happened. (He learned from it.)
It’s fun running against some South Dakota schools at this meet, and it’s also cool to see middle schoolers competing at this event as well. Great support from the Norfolk community with this meet.
September 26 / Lincoln North Star Invite
Lots of memories from this course at Pioneers Park. This is where Burke Boys XC qualified for State XC Championships two years ago. As well, it’s where a few runners have crashed and burned because they pushed it too hard over the first half of the race.
One of my favorite spots to watch the runners is at the 1M spot amongst the trees. They are coming up a hill, and usually they are still bunched up and jostling as they come out into the open. From 1M to 3K it can be flat as the runners run a loop inside the course, but that is only a slight reprieve.
The final 1K might be the toughest finish of all the courses the team runs. (A debate I’ve heard countless times from the team.) If you’ve run smart to this point, you can make a lot of gains if you can handle the pain and “rhythm breaks”. You start up a hill, and it goes longer than you think. You reach the top, but there is no relief as you work your way along a road and then downhill over a field. You turn back and make your way back uphill to the finish.
Liam’s freshman year this was the course where I realized he may have allergies because he told me, during the race, he couldn’t breathe due to his singlet “constraining his chest”. After the season, he underwent an allergy test and we found out he had numerous allergies. No issues running at Pioneers Park since then.
If you know how to run the course, you can use that knowledge to your advantage. We like to run this course because there is a chance we’ll be placed there for Districts.
October 4 / Millard West Invite
If there aren’t a lot of walnuts on the ground, this is a meet the team knows they can run fast. With Saturday practices and the Burke Invite behind them, the team knows the Walnut Grove course and can run it confidently. If conditions are good, we often see Burke XC runners set personal bests again at this meet. It’s also a chance to try a different approach before heading into championship season. This is something Liam did last year. After the Norfolk result, he tweaked his approach by getting out to a faster start at this race. He pushed the pace throughout and went on to medal.
For the team, running in this meet is often a great confidence boost heading into championship season. This is Liam’s favorite meet of the year. “When I think back on (high school) cross country racing, I think of Walnut Grove.”
October 10 / Metro XC Championship
I’ve discussed the course already, but this time of the season there seems to be a bit more wind. People joke about Papio South being a “wind tunnel”. There’s only a few spots of exposure on the course, it’s not like the track, but you do notice it.
When I ask Liam what comes to mind with the course he says, “Hard dirt.” Other places can be uneven, but your foot strike sinks into the ground a bit more. With Walnut Creek you notice the undulations a bit more because of the firmness.
October 17 / Districts
We won’t find out where we are assigned until early October. Last year, we were assigned to Kearney (not the State XC Championship course) where the team ran on a flatter course than Platte River Rumble. Liam was able to sit back in the lead back and then started making a move around 3K. He passed a number of runners to finish 12th and qualify for State XC Championship.
October 25 / State XC Championships
First things first, the runners need to qualify! The team made it two years ago, and last year Liam and Tobias Greene qualified to run at State. It’s been unseasonably warm when this has been run the past two years, and the heat has affected runners as they are giving their all at State.
You have to approach the course strategically. There are various types of hills over the course. The “false flats” will get you when you think you can pick up the pace. Each time I have been there I have seen one of the favorites who goes out too quick and ends up burning out later in the race.
The runners talk about “the fingers” where the run back and forth on the back end of the course. It’s a downhill on the way out on the fingers, but uphill on the way back. One year I saw the Metro XC Champion stop and lean against a tree for thirty seconds halfway through the “fingers”. Understandably, they pushed the pace because they wanted to win. They went for it, but the course and the heat played a part in wearing them down.
And it’s done! NXR is a meet some of the team will run in November, but otherwise it is over until the new year. Then, track conditioning. (We just finished summer conditioning, we don’t need to talk about winter/track conditioning yet.)