As a freshman, Warrenton cross country runner Landon Neace performed well, making it all the way to the Class 4 state championship race at Gans Creek in Columbia.
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As a freshman, Warrenton cross country runner Landon Neace performed well, making it all the way to the Class 4 state championship race at Gans Creek in Columbia.
His finish of 18 minutes, 56.1 seconds has done plenty to motivate him headed into his sophomore season.
While he and the rest of his Warriors teammates will begin the season with the CoMo Kickoff race on August 29 at Gans Creek, Neace aims to end his season on the same course once again, making the state championship in November.
He said that while his sport is individual in terms of timed results, he hopes senior Ken Le and the rest of his team can help him progress as much as he aims to help them.
“I’m hoping to go back,” Neace said. “I think districts will have to be an easier course. A lot of my approach is mental. I want to build stamina throughout the season. My team is so important to me. We go out there and work hard, and it helps.”
For Le, continual improvement will be the theme this season.
He said that dropping times throughout the year will prove crucial to his goal of making the state meet in his final season of competition.
“A goal for me (early) is to break 20,” Le said. “My (ultimate goal) is to run under 19. I think that would do a lot to help the team. I just want to do my best to give the proper effort to help everyone.”
And how will he best help himself succeed this season? It’s all in his head, Le said.
“I think the biggest change has to be my mentality,” Le said. “You go out there and run (on practice days), but when the meet days come, you have to go out there and have that mentality that you’re going to win.”
Warriors Coach Jeremy Collins said that it’s easy to see what’s driving Le.
Collins added that he would expect nothing less than maximum effort from a runner in his final cross country season.
“Ken is a senior and he’s got a lot of motivation,” Collins said. “That’s what you would expect from a senior. He’s just such a hard worker who is willing to put in the work.”
Long before districts and, hopefully, state come around, Collins said he’s hopeful that his dynamic duo can help the team, as a whole, find success, especially in what has long been a tough conference in which to compete.
“Anything is possible when you’ve got two solid runners at the core of the team,” Collins said. “St. Charles is always good, but they lost some runners and you never really know what programs have coming in. I think (a) conference (title) is something we want to shoot for with the guys we have at the core of the team.”
