On a blazing summer day, you might find yourself at the beach or pool embracing your break from school.
People may be traveling across the world.
Others might be traveling cross-country. But for some of our fall athletes cross country involves a different kind of travel.
The 2023 cross country team spent their summer break running mile after mile, weekly, to prepare for the races that would challenge their speed and endurance.
The team, led by track coach Patrick Marshall, is a co-ed team, with 13 varsity boys and 8 varsity girls.
At the culminating NAC-VI conference championship the boys finished in second place behind Millbrook with the girls’ team taking fourth place.
Senior Matthew Walker led the boys with his 5th overall time of 16:49.34. Rounding out the top 10 finishers were freshman Petros Burleson (17:26.62) in 9th and sophomore Landen Holland in 10th (17:29.22).
Sophomore Lily Alston led the Lady Cougars with her 5th overall time of 20:36.35, followed by teammate junior Allie Raitano in 6th with a time of 20:39.03.
Neither team qualified for states at the Oct. 28 4A East Regional race. Walker wrapped up his career with a 43rd place finish (17:15.85) out of 162 runners, while Alston led her team in 52nd place with her time of 21:07.29. The girls’ race featured 150 competitors.
With the 2023 campaign concluded, it’s time to shine the light on the vigorous sport that requires endurance and perseverance.
“I think a lot of people don’t know that it is a sport. It is a serious team effort sport. We all support each other,” freshman Savannah Haught said.
There’s no ball or goal involved, just shoes and a pathway to run, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to enjoy.
“I liked how every time you ran you improved every time because you have experience running it before,” freshman Natalie Baker said.
This past summer consisted of practices and meets, racing alongside teammates. Though runners compete with themselves to improve their race times, XC runners also find themselves unified as one team.
“I love the dynamic that we have. We have to work hard, but we also have a lot of fun in between,” sophomore Lily Alston said. “We sometimes do pasta parties before big meets and those can be really fun.”
Though unified, our runners still face separate challenges.
“It is really difficult because you feel like everyone is watching you, so you need to improve and do your best,” Baker said.
Running takes plenty of perseverance, much like any sport, but like golf, running requires mental toughness.
“You have to know when not to stop. Running hurts, but you have to push through,” Alston said. “Especially if you are dealing with something such as low iron or coming off an injury where you are not running what you were previously, you have to push through to overcome it.”
For Haught, one meet emerged as special.
“The Friday Night lights were so cool and easily my favorite. Seeing the different vibes during the day was so relaxing.”
Now that the season has come to an end, winter track and field is starting. Some cross-country runners plan to pick running back up during spring track while others are joining winter track and running year-long.
“I will do both. I know that the winter season is still going to be rough, but I’m hoping to get my iron up by the time spring track rolls around, and I’m hoping to hit some big PRs then,” Alston said.
Our girls are running into their next season with a level mindset.
“Just keep pushing, never give up,” junior Halla Ishak said.