PAXTON – The Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School cross country team is undergoing some changes.
Sally Ellis was hired as the head coach of the program in mid-July, filling a vacancy created by last June’s resignation of Dustin Franckey from the position.
“We’ve definitely had some changes, but we were ready for the changes and we’ve had a good summer so far, so we’re excited for the upcoming season,” PBL junior Audrey McCoy said.
Franckey served as coach for PBL since 2013. Under his tutelage, the Panther boys qualified for the IHSA Class 1A state meet as a team in 2017 and 2018, and the lady Panthers reached state as a team last fall.
“I think we’ve handled it pretty well,” PBL senior Eli Grohler said. “It’s definitely not going to be the same. We’ve just got to look forward to the change.”
Ellis served as the PBL Junior High School’s head cross country coach in 2024.
“I have a lot to learn at the high school level,” Ellis said. “I enjoy it. I told them when I came in that I’m not going to rock any boats. Some of them already had a summer running plan created. For others, we’ve been working together to meet their needs to build them up to the distance they need to run. Once we start practice the first week of school, we’ll all be on the same basic program. We’ll work together and start building the team from there.”
As a youth, Ellis cheered on brothers who ran long distances. She is also the mother of Evie Ellis, who qualified for the state meet as a member of the PBL girls cross country team in 2016 and 2018.
Ellis “volunteered in different capacities” for the cross country teams at the junior high and high school level before becoming the head coach of the PBL Junior High School team.
“I’ve always enjoyed being a part of it in some capacity,” Ellis said.
Ellis also coached some of the current high school runners when they were in the third through fifth grade at the Girls on the Run program in Central Illinois.
“I just thought it would be fun to see that through and hopefully build on that legacy that they started last year,” Ellis said.
The lady Panthers return three runners from last year’s 24th-place finish at the state meet – McCoy, junior Maddison DeOrnellas and sophomore Ella Strebeck.
“The girls had such a great season last year,” Ellis said.
The Panthers have held summer running program sessions throughout the summer, running on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.
“A lot of them were running through the summer already,” Ellis said. “They were just running on their own.”
On average, 10 runners showed up to the running club during the past few weeks, according to Ellis.
“We’ve had a good amount of people showing up, so I can’t complain,” Grohler said.
Grohler was one of four PBL boys runners who participated in on July 25, finishing with a time of 21:25.64.
“It wasn’t my best run, but I still have more time to improve,” Grohler said. “I’m looking forward to that.”
“It looked like they were pretty much where they should have been,” Ellis added.
The lady Panthers are adding Brooklyn Stafford while the boys are adding Julio Barradas and Nolan Bunag. The freshman trio went to the IESA Class 2A state meet last year.
While the ultimate goal for the girls is a return trip to state, McCoy and DeOrnellas say they are not looking too far ahead.
“We want to go to state again, but before that, we have to hit every other goal before state,” McCoy said. “We want to just make sure we’re hitting our mileage all summer so we can do a good cutback for the postseason, hold ourselves accountable during the summer – waking up early, getting ready to run, all those things.”
“It’s something we definitely want to push forward to, but one step at a time,” DeOrnellas added.
Grohler says he is just hoping to improve his time and set personal record times.
“That’s my biggest goal,” Grohler said. “I’m hoping the boys team can make it to at least sectionals.”
Among the girls’ other goals is to make the all-Illini Prairie Conference team. The conference meet is set for Oct. 7 at Rantoul.
“We want to make it to the all-conference team,” McCoy said.
The Panthers’ season will start with the Light It Up Invitational, which will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, in Clinton.
“I’m excited to see how that goes,” DeOrnellas said.
The El Paso-Gridley Cross Country Invitational will take place on Sept. 30.
“That’s pretty fun,” Grohler said.
Prairie Central High School will host a meet on Oct. 11 at Pontiac Golf Course.
“That’s kind of fun,” McCoy said.