T rust. It’s the word of the season for the Gilbert girls cross country pro- gram as it eyes a fifth consecutive excursion to the Class 3A state meet in Fort Doge as the leaves turn colors and begin to tumble to the ground in the fall. Trust in themselves that each girl has put in the hard work necessary to not only compete, but succeed. Trust in their teammates to be there for each other, through thick and thin, as they celebrate the successes together and commiserate encouragingly during the tough times. And trust in their coaches to be those guiding lights that will lead the Tigers to where they want to go. “That’s really going to be that core principal for our squad this year,” head coach Laura Kautman, who is entering her 18th year with the program, said. “We have a really tight knit senior class leading us forward. We have some experience and talent as well, and we have a lot of girls who are going to be willing to work really hard.” Cross country is not a sport you can fake, anyone who has ever competed in the sport can testify to that fact. Whether a student-ath- lete is the best in the state or No. 35 out of 35 on a particular team at covering the hills and terrain, there’s nowhere to hide. Nearly every- one competes — either in the varsity or junior varsity races — and has to cover the same 5K distance as fans line the course cheering and screaming words of encouragement. Ducking off the course when no one is looking simply isn’t a realistic option. And it never fails, at some point in a race it will be gut check time, and it takes a stable of trustworthy teammates to help push each other along. In some ways, it’s shared suffering. And
what better way is there to build bonds? “Everybody is privy to the same sorts of things in cross country,” Kautman said. “Ev- erybody runs the same practices, everybody runs the same courses, and everybody is in the trenches together.” For Kautman’s program, which has been one of the strongest in the state for the better part of the past two decades, that sisterhood has been key to the Tigers’ successes. In 17 seasons as the head coach, Kautman has engineered 12 appearances in the state meet, and in 2013 Gilbert walked away with the Class 2A state championship. One year later, the Tigers were the 3A state runners-up. Gilbert hasn’t always had the most talent or the deepest roster, and yet year after year it’s seemingly in the thick of things once the post- season rolls around. That’s tradition. And that’s sisterhood. “Cross country is hard, and there are no timeouts,” Kautman said. “Even though it’s really hard, everybody is going through the hard times together and it pulls teams closer. I think that’s something we do really well here at Gilbert. Winning conference titles and mak- ing it to state are obviously important, but we’re also really conscious of creating mem- ories for our athletes and giving those athletes something to look back on fondly.” That’s one of the secret ingredients to Gil- bert’s historical success. Sure, Kautman wants to win another Raccoon River Confer- ence championship this fall — the Tigers did that a season ago — and she’d love nothing more than to take her bunch to Fort Dodge for the 13th time overall since 2008.
28 GAME ON | FALL 2025
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