by Casey Murphy

The girls’ and boys’ cross country teams this season did remarkable. The weekend of October 13, both teams competed in the SWBL meet at Milton Union High School. The girls’ team placed second and boys placed third.

This season both teams ran at several meets and performed proficiently, taking home many third, second and even first place finishes. “Each runner progressed very much in peaking towards the end of the season,” said sophomore Abby Fryman.

Sophomore Calla Hemelgarn commented that she personally has pushed past injuries by running for herself.  Unfortunately many athletes became injured during the season and had to either rest and sit out or push through it. Although the injuries were hard to surpass, the team did the best possible with the athletes able to run.

Recently the girls’ team ran in the Division 1 District race and placed fourth, moving on to Regionals. The boys worked very hard this season but unfortunately didn’t move on to Regionals. Individually Brad Miller placed second at Districts and made it to the Troy meet.

With each team and each runner there are traditions. “For good luck, before each race, I hold Sophie’s ring,” said sophomore Shay Stout, remembering deceased classmate Sophie Kerrigan. A team tradition is saying a prayer before each race and yelling the “I believe” cheer to get pumped up to run.

[Since publication, freshman cross country runner Kayla Parker qualified for the state meet.]