Today officially kicked off the 2026 XC season for the Wildcats. Both teams traveled to Gibson Southern for the annual Hokum Karem Relays. This season kick off race consists of a 2 person team where each athlete runs two one mile legs. In the past this event as been two 2k legs so while comparing to previous races its not completely apples to apples its still very obvious to see the growth the teams have made. The lady Wildcats entered two relay teams this year. One team consisting of Madison Cooper and Makayla Schneider and another with Maddie Abel and freshman Addie Blackburn. Cooper/Schneider finished 32th holding an average pace of 6:43 per mile and Abel/Blackburn finished 46th with an average pace of 7:27 per mile. That is a large improvement over last years performance were the team averaged 7:43 per mile. With three new faces the boys team enter three teams this year. The top finishing pair was Marcus Riecken and Jake Gross with a 24th overall finish in the field of 71 teams. Riecken/Gross averaged a mile pace of 5:12 collectively. Thomas Scates and freshman Logan Greenwell were the next team to cross the line finishing 37th. Scates/Greenwell averaged 5:22 per mile as a team. Both of Scates legs of the relay were personal mile PR's and Greenwells first leg was a 20 second PR for the mile. The third team for Mt. Vernon was Avery Capes, Ty Lange and William Lemburg finishing 56th. Capes/Lange/Lemberg averaged 5:45 per mile. Capes was another WIldcat who turned in a relay leg with a PR. All three teams today carried a faster pace than last years top entry who averaged 6:19 per mile and finished 39th overall. That's a 15 spot improvement for the top pairing. The Wildcats have a busy week coming up as they host Princeton this Tuesday and travel to Boonville Saturday.