The ninth annual Warrior Way 5k (WW5K) took place at NC on Saturday, September 17, encouraging community members, students, and faculty to run to benefit the NC Cross Country program.

Teachers, family members, and friends came together to participate and support the team in an active way.

“Every year the Warrior Way 5k is a great family event. With over 400 entrants, we continued the tradition this year. It’s fun to see so many people from the community gathering to enjoy being fit,” Head Coach John Huff said.

The course began in front of NC on Blue Springs Road and turned onto Nolan and into the NC trails. Participants ran the trails and then looped around the front of the school to finish on the track. Following their finish, NC Cross Country runners lined the track to cheer on other finishers.

AP Environmental Science teacher Julie Hopp ran the 5K to support the program and enjoyed powering through the race: “The North Cobb trail made the second mile very challenging.”

Following the course, NC provided medals to the top finishers from the race. Community members from ages five to sixty five and over earned individual awards by age bracket. Coach Terry Gorsuch won first for the fastest male faculty member for the second year in a row and Susan Ryan clinched the win for fastest female faculty member.

Overall, the Cross County team raised an estimated $10,000 from race entries to put towards new uniforms and additional meets. The team looks forward to continuing the tradition in the years to come.

“We’ve already been making plans to make next year’s race more fun than ever,” Huff said.