Gotta Run: XC flies through first Saturday meet of the season
Junior Ryan Getz battles against Brookwood runner to see who will finish the two mile first. Getz gives the two mile his all and exemplifies determination as he is trying to improve his time from previous seasons.
August 22, 2018
NC’s cross country team participated in their first meet, the Hoya 2-Mile Invitational, at Allatoona Creek park where they raced against nine other schools. Preparing all summer to run their hardest at every meet, the team plans on running harder and faster than they have in previous years.
“I feel very prepared for this season because I worked out over the summer hoping to improve my stamina,” sophomore Aiden Joyce said.
Many runners improved from last year to this year. For instance, last year at the same meet, Magnet junior Isaac Stobo ran the 2-mile in 13:06 minutes. This year, Stobo ran the event in 12:36. Also demonstrating great improvement, sophomore Xavier Fabian improved from last year to this with a full minute time decrease in the two mile run.
Senior Daisy Dunlap finished the 2 mile in 14:01 becoming the first NC girl, on the Varsity team, to finish the race.
Other noticeable changes in improvement featured junior Molly Henkes and sophomore Ella Day. Both athletes improved significantly from last year’s race. Henkes ran 40 seconds faster than her previous time, and Day ran 56 seconds faster at the Hoya 2-Mile event.
This year, the runners feel more prepared for the events than in previous years thanks to the altered programs that Coach John Huff provided. Coach Huff shared a running log with his runners and set each runner with a number of miles they needed to reach before school started.
“I feel prepared for this year because of summer practices and the program Coach Huff had us run. The [goal of] program was to run at least 256 miles by the end of summer so we could stay in shape and be ready for this season,” Stobo said.
This year, the team will continue to train as hard as they can in hopes of making it to state this year, as they have in previous years.
“Even though we lost a lot of great seniors, we also have a lot of new people and have a great chance of going to state this year,” Stobo said.
After the 2 mile, the XC team smiled for one picture all together before leaving to go back to the school. The XC team this year, full of hard-working and dedicated runners, should be fulfilling NC’s expectations.
NC’s cross country team consists of dedicated and hard-working athletes who give it their all at every meet. With the added training Coach Huff put the athletes through during the summer and practices everyday of the school week, XC expects great accomplishments this year.
