The Adel-DeSoto-Minburn football and volleyball teams are already underway for their 2014 seasons and the cross country team is still waiting to see its first race of the year.

The Tigers first competition is tomorrow in Urbandale and we ask head coach David Zwank if waiting until the first week of September puts his teams behind others in the state in terms of starting their season.

“I don’t feel like we’re behind the eight-ball from not having raced, as long as we’re doing quality work and I guess I like to think that our workouts are able to kind of designed themselves and create a situation where the kids can get some of that quality of work but do it in a way that actually less intensive than a meet.”

He stresses the need to push the body properly in training and in practices so that the body can develop recovery time within those practices so that you can push it to go longer to sustain energy throughout the entire race.

Junior Katie Klocke explains another aspect of cross country that she likes and why she continues to go out for a sport that she’s participated in for four years.

“Hard work beats any talent any day and you just need to push through all the bad things that are going on in your life and cross country really helps just to block all those things out and just work through all your stuff.”

ADM girls and boys cross country opens their 2014 season on the road at Urbandale.