Trojan girls enjoying team aspect of sport

It was the first time in many, many years the Turkey Valley girls were able to score as a team as the cross country invite at North Fayette Valley took place Thursday.
And even though the Trojans’ top runner — Jalyssa Blazek, who finished third of the 129 runners — likes the fourth place her team garnered of the 12 schools at the meet, it’s not something she’ll dwell upon.
“I think it’s been a decade or something like that since we’ve had enough runners for a team score,” Blazek said. “So yeah, we’re pretty proud of that and actually we’re doing pretty well for only our second meet.”
The first meet, at Charles City, didn’t keep team scores.
“As a team we try to not pressure ourselves with a team score, we focus on having fun and we’re just happy to be here.”
Blazek finished with a time of 20:28, while Jaycie Byrne was 14th with a 22:36 and Cambree Kruse 19th at 22:50.
“I was three seconds faster than Charles City,” Blazek said, “but I was really shooting for a couple seconds faster.”
Coach Sarah Bakula sees Blazek as being right where she needs to be in terms of time.
— For more on this story, see the Sept. 15 Tribune