Greene County High School opens the 2013 cross-country season on Thursday, August 29 on the Iowa State University course in a meet hosted by Gilbert. The annual Media Day was held at the high school in Jefferson on Wednesday as the team unveiled its runners and coaching staff. Veteran head coach Kelly Simpson is joined by volunteer coach Patrick Gerhardt this season. You couldn’t blame the runners if they nicknamed Gerhardt “the enforcer” or “the law” as he is a member of the Jefferson Police force. Gerhardt ran at Algona High School and on the collegiate level at Simpson College in Indianola. In fact, he was running in college when Kristin Simpson, oldest daughter of the Greene County head coach, was also a Simpson College runner.

The 2013 Rams had 27 runners, a few more girls than boys, at Media Day. Coach Simpson said he expects to pick up another couple of squad members by the time school starts on Aug. 21. “It looks like if we wanted to, we could fill both JV and varsity girls and boys teams, which a lot of schools can’t do. As far as the schools we compete against and the schools in our conference, we have a very, very healthy number.”

Senior Alison Higgins is the lone Greene County runner with State cross-country meet experience. She qualified for the cross-country and track & field State meets as a junior.
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