Scott Keyes
Sports Scene
Much of last year, St. Louis cross country runner Raquel Serna was hampered by injuries.
This season is a different story.
Serna, a junior, is back at full strength and leading the Sharks’ quest for a return trip to the Division 3 state cross country finals in November at Michigan International Speedway.
In the meantime, Serna continues to dazzle and win races for St. Louis.
“Raquel is running very well right now,” coach Steve Kelly said.” I truly believe the training will kick in during early October, and she is going to fly. She has matured tremendously in the past year both physically and mentally. She is an absolute blast to coach.”
At the Chesaning Showboat Invitational, Serna led from start to finish to win the race in a time of 18 minutes, 47 seconds. All runners from Divisions 1-4 competed at the same time, which made Serna’s win even more impressive.
With the graduation of CallyAnne Wyma, Serna has picked up the pace along with the rest of the team.
“Our girls team is full of training leaders,” Kelly said. “I have asked them to do more than most of my teams in the past, and they have continually responded to the challenges.”
However, St. Louis is without the services of Tanisha Davila, last year’s No. 3 runner, who was injured earlier in the year. This has put a lot more pressure on the Sharks’ No.4 and No. 5 runners, but the team has responded well to adversity.
Kelly expects the next three weeks to tell the big story.
“We have caught every virus floating through the school,” he said. “If we are all healthy on one day, it could be a lot of fun to watch. The freshman girls have been a hoot so far. Mallory Munderloh is running very well, but guaranteed to drop time by late October. She has been running with sophomore Hannah Davis in most of the meets, and Hannah is due for a big drop in two weeks. I think they will continue to work with each other for the remainder of the year.”
In the meantime, the Sharks are looking forward to a late October and early November surge. Kelly said that’s when the wins and losses start to matter.