The weather has finally started cooling off and the leaves are changing. It is cross country season! Our Bulldogs are led by Sean Voorhies. He’s a teacher at Lakeview High School, he teaches social studies during the day, but by evening he is a full-time committed cross country coach. Voorhies is also an alumni of Lakeview High School. He has been the track and cross country coach since 2006. The boys had a very successful track season leading into a wonderful cross country season.
The boys cross country team gained a total of 19 runners! Voorhies has a Junior Varsity and Varsity team. The Junior Varsity team mainly contains underclassmen working to become as good as their upperclassmen peers. The Varsity team consists of Senior Jaden Kropp, Senior Evan Hyde, Senior Josh Hudson, Junior Anthony Marble-Salem, Junior Griffin Oravec, Junior Luke Whitmore, Junior Marcus Grube, Junior Ethan Shackleford, Junior Trenton Miller, Junior Mason Wheeler, Junior Jake Langmeyer, and Freshman Nicolas Seikel.
To start off the season, the boys were Runner Up at the Billy Goat Invitational. They continued their success streak by winning the Maplewood Invite. They continued the win streak by taking home the Trumbull County Championship and becoming NE8 Champions. Not only that but they are state ranked this year! Lakeview running has always been competitive but they have stood out extra this season!
With about a month left in the cross country season, Coach Voorhies had this to say about their progress and success! “I am very pleased with their progress. They are just going to get better and better because they put in a ton of work. Their work ethic is pretty insane. They have fun doing it.” What an impressive group of young men!
The boys have many wins under their belt, so I asked Senior Kropp how he felt about such a successful season, and being on a cross country team especially being newer to Lakeview High School. “I have had a blast running Cross-Country. We have a fantastic tight-knit group of guys. We busted our butt all summer and it is really paying off. This season has been super fun because our team is the best it has been in a while. Our team’s biggest strength is our depth. Our top ten guys are all at a really similar fitness level. This allows us to work together really well in a race. None of this would have been possible without Coach Voorhies. I am ecstatic to keep working with the guys as we keep pressing forward with minds set on going to state. To all you non runners don’t be a baby and join cross-country next year.”
Not only is Kropp extremely enthused and excited for what is to come but Oravec also had plenty of positive things to say about such a great season! “You know really trained this summer and we’re very dedicated to being a good team, we had people step up from the team and coach got us to where we needed to be, the reason we do well is because of how close everyone is to each other.”
Much of the team has high-hopes for making state this year. Not only are our boys’ state ranked but many of them have a chance to qualify for states! All of them are super excited and very proud of their hard work and dedication. Along with Voorhies putting in countless hours of hard work to make his boys the best they can possibly be. All of their success has been hard earned and all of us at Lakeview are so proud of them! Congratulations and good luck Bulldogs!
