Two Knoxville Panther sports squads will be in action today. The Cross Country Squad will travel to Newton for a meet. The Panthers have been off since last Tuesday’s Oskaloosa Invitational where both boys and girls squads finished in 10th. Girls Runner Janie Maasdam tells KNIA/KRLS Sports the mental part of cross country is what she is focusing on, not trying to think about outside distractions.

Maasdam:
“When you’re racing you want to think about those things, and when you think about those things you tend to slow down. So you try to put those things out of your mind and tell yourself you have a race to run.”

While the cross country runners are at Newton, the volleyball squad, fresh off a 3-2 day at Bondurant-Farrar on Saturday, head to Clarke seeking its first South Central Conference win of the season. The Panthers have dropped their first three conference matches, two of which they had a 2-0 lead. Coach Mollie Keitges tells KNIA/KRLS Sports her girls need to have experience on the court to get ready for the end of the season run they hope to make. The cross country meet is scheduled for 4:30 at Maytag Park in Newton while the volleyball match is scheduled for 7:30 in Osceola.