On September 3rd, 2022, the Lincoln East cross country team dominated the competition, starting their season off with two meet record runners. Racing at Walnut Creek, junior Mia Murray and senior Isaac Graff set the pace at the Titan Classic.

Murray crossed the finish line with a time of 18:36.73, the fastest time ran at a Titan Classic invitational. With 8 Lincoln East medalists in the girls’ varsity meet (15 total runners medal), the Spartan’s first varsity meet was an accurate representation of the depth of this year’s team.

Officially, cross country is scored by place value, with the first runner contributing one point, second contributing two, and so on, with the top five runners being scored. The Lady Spartan’s scored 18 points. Mia Murray (1), Berlyn Schutz (2), Peyton Svehla (3), Ella Herzberg (6), junior Jordyn Wissing (7) were the teams top 5 runners.

Graff led the boys, setting the second meet record for East with a strong time of 16:09.08. “I think I have the ability to compete with the top runners in the state and come October I think that I’ve put in the training to be able to do so,” Graff said.

The boy’s team finished runner-up to Papillion-La Vista South by one point. Isaac Graff (1), Hudson Davy (4), Caleb Ruch (8), Ben Schlegemilch (10), and Drew Arduser (13) were the top 5 finishers.

“The first race of the season went really well,” Murray said. “We did end up winning and I felt everybody had good races, but there are always things that we can do better. We have to continue to work hard in practice and push through the tough workouts to get stronger.”