October brings about the end of the boys cross country season. Participating in what might just be one of the most difficult sports, these athletes are determined to endure miles of running, so they can cross the finish line with their heads high.

Last year, the team walked away with a standing record of 1-5. The head coach, David Dompke, is a math teacher at EGHS.

“Although the record doesn’t show it, we had a successful season when it came to our regional meets,” said Dompke.

Dompke has been coaching the boys cross country team for 13 years and has been head coach for eight of them. His expectations for this year’s team were reasonable. This year, Dompke had hoped to beat Rolling Meadows again and have at least two individuals qualify for sectionals.

“This year’s group is more vocal. They’re interacting with our freshmen daily, giving [them] advice, and helping them when they need it,” Dompke said. “It’s nice to have relationships with teammates that are older.”

Senior Sean Frintner is one of those older athletes. After four years with the program, Frintner has become one of the team’s key runners this season.

“It’s been a pretty good year. We’ve been competing well for what we usually do,” Frintner said. Frintner placed tenth in this years Harvest Christian event, a great personal achievement that both he and his teammates are proud of.

As far as pride goes, the team beat Rolling Meadows once more. It looks like coach Dompke’s vision of victory against the Mustangs came true.

“The meet against Meadows was great,” Frintner said. “It’s always been close competition between us, but in the end, we came out on top.”