The Perry Cross Country teams will open up the season tomorrow in Ames at the Iowa State Cross Country Course as they take part in the Gilbert Invitational.  The sport has changed for the female participants this year with the race expanding from a 4k to a 5k to match other states in the sport.  Perry Jayette Head Coach Nathan Krohn was pleased that the change was made.

“I think it’s a good thing overall for the sport of cross country.  There are no 4K races in college so this will give colleges a much better idea of where our Iowa girls stand as a state and hopefully give our kids more opportunities to be recruited at the college level.”

The Jayettes will feature one of the youngest teams in the state this year and Krohn feels this might be the most opportunistic time to have such a young squad.

“I think it will be quite an adjustment for a lot of the more experienced runners.  You’re adding a little more than a ½ mile to a race 2 ½ miles long so you’re talking a substantial 25% addition.  I think we have a little bit of an advantage with our team being so young.  Our girls weren’t used to running the old 4k’s since a lot of them haven’t competed at the varsity level before so they don’t have any prior knowledge to get down on themselves early in the season.”

There are 7 girls currently on the Perry girls cross country roster.  Grace Stewart will serve as the captain with team members Kyla Develbiss, Jaky Castaned, Kat Munoz, Alondra Avila, Alejandra Rivera and McKinley Thompson.