GNK girls looking for more numbers

COLERAINE—The Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin High School girls cross country team would like to step out of the shadow of their boys team, and start making a name for themselves.

Will this be the year the Titan girls do that?

Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin coach Will Floersheim has the ability to do that, but he may not have the numbers to accomplish that feat.

For Floersheim, that’s an issue he doesn’t want to address.

“We’re at less than 10 girls in the program,” Floersheim said. “We’re trying our hearts out to recruit them to be a part of the program. We have four girls that are talented, but we’re trying to figure out who are fifth runner is going to be.

“That’s the challenge right now. I don’t know if we’ll be able to score a varsity team in the early going. It kills me to say that.”

There’s two talented runners at the top of the list, junior Lola Champlin and freshman Taylor Covier.

Champlin placed 23rd last year at state. She was 15th in 2022.

“Lola has been to the state two-straight year, and she has an all-state under her belt,” Floersheim said. “This year, she’s ranked 12th individually. Taylor has been running right behind her.

“She has a chance to break through and get to state. They train together all of the time. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.”

Joining them on the team are Carly Adams and Kota Powers.

“Kota joined the track team last spring and had a good season,” Floersheim said. “I was encouraged with what I saw in her distance event. We talked to her about cross country, and it was a natural fit. She’s a talented kid, too.

“We have a good core, but we need a fifth girl that is anywhere close to the top four. Even so, I’m proud of the girls. We have the challenge of filling out the team.”

The frustrating part of it is that Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin isn’t far away from sending a girls team to state.

The Titans placed third at the Section 7A Meet last year.

“They are within striking distance,” Floersheim said. “What can we do to find another girl or two, three or four to make a run at this? We got close last year. We were knocking on the door. We have the girls to do it.”

As of now, Floersheim will have to make do with what he has in front of him.

“With the girls, depending on how we look at it, our individuals will do some special things like getting to state, and doing some impressive things when you get there,” Floersheim said. “If we can find a couple of girls to fill our team, we could finally get a girls team to state.

“That would be the icing on the cake. We’ve been working on that since I’ve been here. We have some special girls throughout the program that havent’ gotten to that point.”