WJ’s men’s cross country team enjoyed an improved season and many impressive wins, such as their home meet, “The Tomahawk Run.” Co-Coach David Lee observed, “As a whole, we were so much better this year than last. It seemed that everyone on the team had much better times and did a better job at competing.” Senior co-captain Anthony Volpe agreed, adding, “We knew that our team needed change and change ended up bringing us a lot of success this season.” Great success came not only to the team, but to one individual runner in particular.

Sophomore Nathaniel Ondracek made WJ proud as he qualified for the Division I State Championship after finishing 27^th at the regional meet. He stated, “Being able to run at states as a sophomore makes me feel blessed more than anything. It’s an amazing accomplishment, and not many people are given the talent to do so.” Senior co-captain Nicholas Reimund commented on Nate’s demeanor, saying, “I was very excited for Nate. He worked so hard through track season and the summer, and he showed up at every meet and placed very well.”

Co-Coach Tony DiPre expressed his pleasure and excitement about Nate’s achievement: “All of Nate’s hard work throughout the season paid off for him in the end.” He humbly added, “Nate deserves the lion’s share of credit for the preparation that went into qualifying for states and finishing forty-ninth. We cannot teach hard work, commitment to training, and drive during the race…that comes from the runner himself.”

Nate placed forty-ninth in the State meet with a time of 16:07 which ranked him as the eighth fastest sophomore in Ohio. With two more years ahead of him as a Running Warrior, Nate has specific goals to reach. His plans for junior year include being in the All Ohio Top 25 and, as for his senior year, he would like to be ranked among the top three in the state.