By Bruce Karnick

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Fall sports are winding down for your Hastings Raiders and for long time Head Coach John Dewall, the sun is setting on a cross country career that has seen it all.

‘It’s your final conference meet’ is the start of the conversation with Dewall, “yeah it was…” he pauses for a moment to collect his thoughts.

“Bittersweet,” is all he can say for a moment.

“It was… it was fun. I enjoyed the day, enjoy the kids, it’s been a fun year. You know the kids ran pretty solid, looking forward to sections next week at Valleywood. Yeah, it’s been fun coaching, it’s fun coaching this crew in particular, it’s been a really good year, you know, bittersweet it’s time for some younger people to take over. There’s no doubt right it’s um, it’s been a fun ride,” Dewall added.

In his retirement from coaching, he is looking forward to spending more time with his family and just being a teacher next year, if that can be a ‘just’ job. Dewall may be on his farewell tour as a coach, he has one, maybe two more meets for cross country, then the Nordic Ski season for winter and Track for the spring and that’s it. It is sad to see him go because he has been such a positive influence on the lives of so many young adults, but all good things must come to an end.

The Raiders did well at the conference championships at St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park. The top finisher in each race for Hastings were: Girls – Jordyn Doughty placing 17th with a time of 22:54.20 and Boys – Tyler Bushinski placing 5th overall.

Hastings will send their top seven runners from each the boys and girls side to the Section 3AAA meet in Apple Valley at Valleywood Golf Course.

Coach Dewall explained his approach for sections, “Legit, getting Ty Bush to the state meet. I mean, that’s the goal. He’s got a really good shot at it if you take out the top two teams next six individuals. He’s sitting right now with best times. Like literally, in eighth, but fifth and sixth and seventh are within 10 seconds. So, based on time, he’s right in the mix.”

Dewall spoke on how the season has been overall with a wonderful group of kids, a fun group with great camaraderie. The girls did not have a standout runner like the boys do with Bushinski, but they have a very solid group of runners that have a similar pace.

“Even though they may not have been as competitive as other teams in other years. This crew of boys and girls was honestly one of the most fun teams to coach, and it’s a good way to go out. The goal is to be competitive, but you’ve got to have fun. I mean running isn’t easy. And I think that, as a coach looking back. My goal has always been to make it fun for the kids and do things that make it fun and keep it light. Don’t stress them out and just make the kids enjoy the experience, you know, for some it’s their last time they’ll probably ever be on our competitive team,” added Dewall.

It is clear that he will miss getting to know the kids, but it is also clear he has come to terms with his decision and is ready to move on after decades of coaching. He just hopes to see kids start running at the middle school and stick with it for their remaining time at school. It may be a tough sport, but it is also rewarding and can build you for a lifetime of health and happiness.

Tyler Bushinski was the top Raider runner of the day with a time of 17:07.80 which was good enough for fifth overall. Photo by Bruce Karnick