|
Three fall sports are in the win column, while the fourth appeared as a completely transformed team. On Aug. 27, McCool’s high school football, boys and girls cross country, and volleyball teams all made their 2026 debuts in an explosive fashion. The football team opened their season against Giltner with a score of 59-28, the cross country girls and boys team won their meet, with many runners on both sides ending up in the top ten, and the volleyball girls came out swinging, pushing Silver Lake to a 5th set, and only losing by two.
Even though they had less boys on the field, this didn’t stop the football team’s momentum from the end of last season to now. The team graduated many seniors last year, and also moved down to a 6 man team, which they haven’t been since 2021. This, however, didn't seem to stop them. Head Coach Jarrod Weiss talked about how pleased he was with how his team battled through adversity as the game progressed. “We were put into precarious situations at times,” said Coach Weiss, “and did a good job battling through. I was pleased with our young kids that got a chance to play. They did a lot of great things in the game.” The football team's captains this season are Cornelius Grobler, Jameson Weiss, Jaxon McDonald, and Colby Yates.
With both girls and boys cross country teams winning their first meet, both Senior Leah Dawson and Sophomore Carter Mierau both brought home gold in their respective races. Dawson averaged 6 minutes per mile, and even broke her McCool Junction course record from the previous season. Mierau ran a 9:52:71 time, beating the McCool Junction course record set by Trent Neville in 2022. As for the rest of the team, many runners ended up in the top 15. Sophomore Kayliana Kitto was next for the girls in 5th place, Freshman Kelsey Betka was in 7th, Senior Natalie Clark followed in 10th, Freshman Ferrah Gordan was next in 10th place, and Junior Antonia Boschult finished in 13th. On the boys side the team had Freshman Braxton Gerken finishing in 3rd place, Senior Eythan Schade finished in 5th, Junior Brayton Clark finished in 6th, Freshman Tripp Probasco was right on Clark’s heels in 8th, and their final varsity runner Luke Sedlacek finished in 16th.
Finally, the McCool Volleyball team had a great first showing, pushing Silver Lake to five sets and only losing by two points. In the first set, Silver Lake took a huge lead and won 25 to 16, then the Mustangs clapped back in set two, winning 25 to 19. In the third set, the Mustangs hit Silver Lake hard again, winning 25 to 23. The fourth and fifth sets didn’t go in the Mustangs favor, though. In the fourth set, Silver Lake won 25 to 22, and in the last set Silver Lake won the game with 15 points and McCool Junction with 13. While it was a loss, the Mustangs won more sets in that game than they did all last season. The girls showed huge improvement in their play, and they are excited to show more of what they can do.
The Mustang Athletics have another full week of contests, this week with Cross Country Sep. 1 and Volleyball and Football playing on Sep. 3.
|
