by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Things are looking up for the Wellington Cross Country program —  really up.

There are 54 runners out for the sport sixth through seniors. In high school there are 16 girls and 14 boys.

“The last time we had those kinds of numbers on the high school level was 1978,” said Charles Wallace, head cross country coach.

The thing is not only does the high school team have a lot of runners, but they have some very, very competitive runners. 

Here’s an interesting tidbit: Throughout Wellington history, the cross country team has never had a girls team win a meet. That might change this year.

The Wellington girls are fresh off placing second at the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League Div. IV meet a year ago at Wartick Farms in El Dorado.

In that meet, Wellington finished behind Andale by 12 points and outdistancing four other schools by at least 11 points.

The team returns almost everybody this season including senior Jaedyn Ledesma, who appears to be back at full strength.

Ledesma struggled with various injuries during her sophomore and junior years, but her best race came at the league meet where she ran a 17.12 to finish second individually. This year she appears to be in full “sprint” form like she was as a freshman.

“She’s back,” Wallace said. “I don’t know whether she will be able to chain the other five girls on her back or not. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

In cross country, in order to score, a team must have seven runners and the top five “lowest” scores are totaled for points. For example, a perfect team score in cross country is when five teammates score 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 for 15 points.

Wellington have 10 and maybe 11 girls who could run cross country at the varsity level. This is a far cry from years past when Wellington would have one or two runners.

Another girl to look out for is Lauren Scheufler, a freshman, who is already turning heads in practice.

“She has done her home work,” Wallace said.

Following those two are juniors Cabriel Roe and Leah Nelson, who finished eighth and ninth respectively in the league meet.

“I think those four will be our clear starters,” Wallace said. “We just don’t know who our fifth, sixth and seventh runners will be at this time.”

Baylee DeJarnett, Julia Peck, Mackinze Tracy, Caitie Williams, Payton Witham and Shelby McNamara could all be varsity starters before the end of the year.

On the boys side, Wellington has some solid senior experience. There are four seniors out this year.

Trisston Tracy, Tyler Benson, Jacob Johnson and Houston Sober have stuck it out from the beginning and are now seniors.

“They have been very loyal to the program and I appreciate that,” Wallace said. “Cross Country is a hard sport to compete in.”

Sober just recently stepped on a nail at his work and may be out for at least a week.

Two younger boys with great potential are sophomores Brent Williams and Joe Friesen. Williams was the highest finisher at the league meet last season with a 21st finish at 20.26.

On the middle school level, the numbers are not as rosy for the seventh and eighth graders. There are five boys running – three in seventh and two in eighth. There are no girls.

“Obviously that has been the biggest disappointment,” Wallace said. “We need to get people out in that age group to sustain the program in the future.”

There are numbers in the sixth grade with seven boys and 11 girls.