Cross country will be the first sport to begin competition at Jackson County Central this fall as the Huskies participate in the 11th annual Fairmont Cardinal Early Bird Invite Friday.
The meet uses a different format than traditional cross country meets.
"We treat the meet as kind of a scrimmage," said JCC coach Rafe York. "It's broken up by grades instead of a varsity and junior high and it's a 4K race instead of 5K. We go in with some specific goals for each kid as far as splits."
The meet also is the first time some of his runners will see a cross country meet, even if it's not a typical one.
"I don't think there's any sport that is quite like cross country as far as how the competitions work," York commented. "You just kind of mill around and then all of a sudden everybody is at the line and running and you're kind of on your own after that. There isn't a lot I can do as a coach other than yell "run!'"
A total of 11 teams are scheduled to compete. In addition to the Huskies and host Cardinals, teams scheduled to be on hand are Blue Earth Area, Fairmont, Heron Lake-Okabena, Jackson County Central, Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet, Marshall, Mountain Lake Area, New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva, St. James Area, St. Peter and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.
Race times are 9:30 a.m. (12th grade), 9:55 (11th grade), 10:20 (10th grade), 10:45 (9th grade), 11:15 (8th grade) and 11:30 (7th grade).
The JCC girls return three runners with varsity experience.
Olivia Anderson is the lone senior. She enters the season with the fourth-best 5K time in school history, which dates back to 1997.
Sophomore Elese Paplow returns as she is also playing volleyball for the Huskies.
"Elese has been great about it," York said. "She makes sure she's on top of things and communicating about how she's feeling. Volleyball has been doing two-a-days and then to throw in a distance workout is probably beating her up a little bit but she's been pretty good about it."
Also returning is Rylie Cother, who is part of a freshman class that York says should allow the girls to have a full varsity team.
JCC's boys have their sights set on being a factor at the section meet after a seventh-place finish last year.
Andrew Boyum heads a list of five seniors. He qualified for the state meet last year, although it was canceled. He had a time of 17:24 last season, which is 10th on the school's all-time list.
Other seniors are Clayton Cavness, Evan Insichenmay, Keenan Abrose, Kaden Cother and Kie Anderson.
Other returnees for the Huskies are sophomores Evan Paplow and E.J. Peterson, along with junior Carter Johnson.
After last year's season of a three-team maximum for meets due to Covid concerns, teams have returned to more typical schedules.
JCC will be at Mountain Lake on Sept. 3 and Luverne Sept. 11 prior to a break and then hosting its home meet at Loon Lake Golf Course on Sept. 23.
"A couple of years ago I added a week off in the middle and that's one of the wisest things I've ever done as a coach," York said.
The Big South Conference meet is Oct. 19 at Pipestone, with the Section 3A at Madison on Oct. 28.
JCC's schedule:
Fri., Aug. 27 - at Fairmont, 9:30 a.m.
Fri., Sept. 3 - at Mountain Lake, 10 a.m.
Sat., Sept. 11 - at Luverne, 10 a.m.
Thurs., Sept. 23 - JCC Invitational, 4:15 p.m.
Mon., Sept. 27 - at Fairmont, 4 p.m.
Tues., Sept. 28 - at Murray County Central, 4:15 p.m.
Thurs., Oct. 7 - at Fairmont, 4:30 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 12 - at Adrian, 4 p.m.
Tues., Oct. 19 - Big South Conference, Pipestone, 4 p.m.
Thurs., Oct. 28 - Section 3A, Madison
Postseason
Cross country in Minnesota expanded to a three-class format this season.
JCC won't see much change in its section meet as the Huskies will compete in Section 3A. The section meet is Thurs., Oct. 28 at Madison.
Teams:
Adrian/Ellsworth
BOLD/Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart
Canby/Minneota
Central Minnesota Christian
Heron Lake-Okabena
Jackson County Central
Lac Qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd
Lakeview
Luverne
MACCRAY/Renville County West
Montevideo
Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey
Murray County Central
Ortonville
Pipestone
Redwood Valley
Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
Southwest Minnesota Christian/Edgerton
Springfield/Cedar Mountain
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton
Wabasso
Windom
Yellow Medicine East
State meet
The state meet is Saturday, Nov. 6 at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
Tentative schedule:
Class 3A boys: 9:30 a.m.
Class 3A girls: 10:30 a.m.
Class 1A boys: 12 p.m.
Class 1A girls: 1 p.m.
Class 2A boys: 2:30 p.m.
Class 2A girls: 3:30 p.m.