The girls’ and boys’ cross country teams are up and running for the new season.
Seven weeks of summer conditioning kept returning team members on their feet and allowed incoming athletes to adapt to the intense practices.
“The new freshmen are blending in really well with the rest of the team and they’ve really taken to the hard work that cross country requires,” head coach Steven White said.
Effort put in over the summer is projected to pay off. White has noticed that kids can often achieve great feats through their persistence.
“Lots of young athletes, who didn’t think they could achieve certain things, end up exceeding their own expectations,” White said. “It is cool to see them run faster, run farther and win titles as we get through the season.”
White has high expectations for all the cross country teams and faith in his athletes’ abilities to accomplish them.
“I would like for all three teams to win the League,” White said. “I think we have the potential to do that and then launch the varsity teams up to state finals.”
Each year, the team takes on a new dynamic and structure, but this season is particularly unique for its lack of senior athletes.
“We are a very young team,” White said. “There are just a few senior boys and fewer senior girls. The juniors have really stepped up and taken on the leadership positions and helped guide the younger athletes to amazing things.”
The boys’ team captains this year are seniors Neal Petit and Cole Walker and juniors Grant Jones and Enzo Crivello. The girls’ team captains this year are juniors Katarina Modrzejewski, Kavya Sreeraj and Anika Ravilla.
“There are a lot of new responsibilities we have to take on as captains but I’m really excited to be working with everyone on the team,” Modrzejewski said. “Everyone is working incredibly hard and as long as we avoid injuries I think we can make it to State this year.”
Sreeraj also has plans to take care of her team and learn from past mistakes.
“I really want to make sure everyone is taking care of their body,” Sreeraj said. “Last year there were a lot of injuries and I don’t want that to happen again.”
All races and cross country events can be found on this sheet.
