The Grizzlies attended the Section 2A Championships on Thursday October 29th. Baylor Regional Park just outside Norwood Young America was the setting for the final race of the season for many teams. The course was a 5 kilometer loop around the park, through the main area and the marsh, that provided the runners a one-time race through the beautiful autumn park. In team placements, JWP/WEM Boys finished seventh out of eighteen, the Grizzly Girls finished eleventh out of fourteen.
Norah Welvaert was the lead runner for the Grizzlies in the Women’s 5k. All the ladies running in the race were battling for any traction in the competition. Welvaert completed the race in twenty minutes and twenty-eight seconds. Her season growth and final ranking of the season earned her a spot in the All-Section honors. Lydia Coulsey and Madalyn Miller weren’t too far behind Welvaert in time but the density of the competition placed them in 57th and 65th place.
For the Boys, it was Wyatt Jans leading the way for the Grizzlies and earning them an individual runner in the State competition. Jans was packed against a group of unrelenting runners who would only yield to the finish line. Almost all of the top ten finished before seventeen minutes and Jans was the tenth place finisher at sixteen minutes and fifty seconds. Tenth place earned him State qualification and a 2026 All-Section honor.
The awards were given out in the campground packed with cross country supporters. Welvaert and Jans represented the Grizzlies in the highest rankings of the Section Championship to end their collective season.
Jans will run the final run of the year for the Grizzlies at the State tournament on Saturday November 7th. The race will take place at 1 p.m. at Majestic Oaks Golf Club.
