Greater Latrobe Senior High School had three runners go to Hershey to compete for the state on Friday, November 1, 2024, Charlie Heese, Emerson Skatell, and Carly Berk. The girls competed in AAA brackets while Charlie Heese also competed in the AAA bracket. The race took place on Saturday, November 2.
I had the chance to ask Coach Simpson how he motivates his runners, “relax and go out and do what you are ready to do. Your training has gotten you to this point, go out and go.” He says he tells his runners to also “run crazy, not stupid.” No matter the placement Coach Simpson encourages his runners. He says the most rewarding part of this season was, “watching them improve we had some struggles early on in the season, physical, tiredness, strain, workouts are challenging and they were a bit discouraged but they kept working through it.”
Coach Simpson said they had trained slightly differently this year by adjusting the timing of some workouts. To prepare for next season, he said they would look back and decide if the changes were good or bad and if they needed to add to the alter or undo the change to benefit runners for the 2025 season.
Senior, Emerson Skatell, finished at 19:09.00 and landed in 18th place. In the 2023 states meet Emerson Skatell placed 20th with a time of 19:12.00. She got 2 placements better and also 3 seconds faster than the previous year. “My mom always just told me to believe. If I believe in myself then I can do it,” Emerson said that that is the advice that sticks with her and she also said that she handles the pressure of big competition such as states by, “going into it believing in myself.” Emerson had mentioned that she had committed to Lehigh University to continue her athletics in track and cross country.
Sophomore, Charlie Heese finished with a time of 17:50.00 and placed 168th. Charlie ran through an injury in the 2023 season and placed 236th with a time of 20:14.00 despite being injured. Charlie said “Definitely gonna be quicker next year. It’s nice to have it” about having the best time in our school at 16:20.7. He has already improved from the previous year even with an injury. He previously mentioned that running with an injury was not a fun experience and he was excited to see what he could do. As a sophomore with excellent times, he has plenty of time to achieve his goals and improve at states with the 2 years in high school he has left.
Senior, Carley Berk, finished in 87th place with a time of 20:25.00. In the 2023 season, Carley placed 68th with a time of 20:18.00. Even though she is planning to pursue basketball further for college, she still plans on running. Carley PR’d this season which was her long-term goal. Her best piece of advice she has received is, “that you can do more than what you think you can, like your mind would be telling you to stop and that you can’t go anymore, but you always can.” She stated that cross country is an individual sport but it’s also mainly a team sport by passing people you can still bump up the team score. So no matter the placement they are all working together to achieve success.
