2013 Meet The Team Mahomet-Seymour Boys Cross Country

   As a freshman, Ryan came into the season with one year of junior high running experience. Ryan opened up his freshman season with a very solid time of 21:47. He really impressed his coach and teammates with his work ethic in practice. He has handled some very tough workouts with great intensity. Ryan ran in the 2 mile freshman race at the Springfield Invitational with a lifetime best of 12:53. This was over 2 minutes faster than his best time from last year. His drastic improvement in just one year shows how hard he has worked in practice. Ryan had a big break through at the Peoria ND Invitational where he made a 1:43 improvement. He ran a 20:05 for a new lifetime best. Ryan earned enough points to earn a varsity letter as a freshman. Ryan ran a lifetime best at the East Peoria Invitational with a 19:27. Ryan ran a lifetime 3 mile best at the U-high invitational with a 19:39. He followed this great effort up by running a season best of 19:08 at the Metamora Invitational. He was one of only 3 runners on our team to be able to run a season best on this tough course. Ryan ended his season by running a lifetime personal best for the 3 mile with a time of 19:35 at the Conference meet. He improved 2:12 from the start of the season.
    As a sophomore, Ryan came in older and stronger. He opened his sophomore season by running a 20:39 at the Charleston Invitational. This was a 1 minute and 8 second improvement from his time just one year earlier at the same invitational. Ryan has done a great job taking some of the new runners under his wing at practice. His leadership and willingness to take care of others has been extremely valuable to the team. I know the new runners in particular really look up to Ryan and he has earned it. Ryan made his way onto the News-Gazette prep cross country leaders in September. Ryan went on to run a season best at the Springfield Invitational with a time of 20:25. He helped his team win the open race for the second year in a row as he was in our top 7 runners in this race. Ryan ran a season best at the East Peoria Invitational with a time of 20:23. Ryan had a major improvement at the Metamora Invitational. He cracked into the 18s for the first time with an 18:46. His new lifetime personal best earned him the 12th fastest time for a sophomore on our fastest times at the Metamora Invitational list. Ryan earned enough letter points after the Metamora Invitational in order to earn his varsity letter for the second year.
    As a junior, Ryan started the season stronger than ever. He somehow managed to recover from a bad injury at the end of last season and improved his stamina and confidence. He ran 300 miles in the summer and joined our 300 mile club. Huff came out as one of the team leaders from the start. Ryan really became vocal in encouraging the runners around him and showed great team spirit. His teammates really respond to his encouragement and he really made our team improve from the early season workouts due to his leadership and initiative to cheer on his teammates. Ryan opened up at Charleston with a solid race of 21:15. His time was a great improvement from last year's Charleston Invitational time. He improved 1:52 seconds in just 1 year. Ryan improved more than any other runner on our team. Ryan drastically improved again at the Springfield Invitational where he ran a 20:21 for a 54 second improvement. He helped his team win the Springfield open race team championship. Ryan earned his way onto the News-Gazette prep cross country leaders list in September. Ryan also went on to earn his way onto the News-Gazette prep cross country leaders list in October.