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Concordia Lutheran Cross Country makes school history
Three years after Lueveno took the job, Concordia Lutheran made school history last week finishing second at the TAPPS state meet.
"We just vibe really well as coaches," Lueveno said. "We communicate with the girls and build them a road map to be successful. This is a grueling sport and there is a fine line between hard work and having some fun. In between all the practices you have to build relationships and enjoy each other."
Finishing fourth at state the past two years, the coaches tweaked their training a bit, which worked.
"We were just praying we would have a season this year," she said. "They listened and trusted us as we changed up some of the training. They were itching to do better this year and they came back really ready to go hard."
Leading the way were Lauryn Kastenschmidt and Ava Zindler. Kastenschmidt finished fourth overall. Megan Groeschel, Shelby Hadrick and Jessica McGavern also played huge roles on the teams' success.
"We ran really well all season and knew we had a chance at state," she said. "We didn't want to think about it much during the season, but we knew we could do something special and they did it."
Concordia Lutheran's top five runners all placed in the Top 30. Two were in the Top 10 and Kastenschmidt was fourth.
"They took it day-by-day and just put their trust in God," she said. "The real rewards come from doing your best and being the runner-up at state was just icing on the cake."
So, now what?
"We are going to celebrate and love them up right now," she said. "We are going to take a break and have a banquet. Then we are going to think about next year and get going again."