It is common to hear statistics and times on the announcements in the morning when the cross country team does well, but do we really know who is on the team? Who, exactly, is doing well? What are their mindsets? How do their teammates help them? We’ve asked a few Cross Country runners these questions to help us understand what it takes for the athletes to perform at high levels.

A Senior, Zachary Harper,  participating in his first year running Cross Country, shares his weekly schedule with us.
“A typical week of practice for me is stretching for about 20 minutes, running a warm-up mile, and doing a workout which usually consists of 2-5 miles, plus something we call strides.”

Though running is a team sport, some individuals have different workouts, so we have asked a couple of other people to share their training schedules.

Next up we have Maggie Twehues. “A typical week of practice is usually Monday easy day/long distance, Tuesday hard workout or a home meet, Wednesday recovery day, Thursday lighter workout, and Friday easy day because meets are Saturday.”

Then, we have Addie Moore, WCHS Freshman. “A typical week of practice looks like running 6 times a week with 2 of those days being hard workouts, the rest of them being easy runs and 1 long run. The long run usually consists of anywhere from 8-11 miles. The hard workouts usually consist of a track workout or things like mile repeats.”

Finally, we have Jase Crume, with his schedule. “I normally run 7-8 miles a day, up to 45 miles a week.”

Zachary, Maggie, and Addie also talked about their appreciation for their teammates.

“Something I appreciate about my teammates is how kind and welcoming they are, and how we can have fun every day at practice,” says Zachary Harper, “My favorite part about being on the team is getting to have fun with my friends and beat my close competitors.”

When asked, Maggie said something along the lines of that as well. “My teammates are always there for each other and put in the work at practice so we can do good at meets.”

Addie replied, “My teammates all care about you and they always try to encourage you in the best ways. Such as, whenever I feel nervous about a race, they always try to encourage me and help me to recognize that racing is not everything, but it definitely is important to me.”

After watching the team at a couple of meets, I’ve noticed how supportive they are and how upbeat they are at the races. When they stretch and warm up, they do it with a smile on their faces. The team dynamic is healthy, and because everyone is so close with each other, that makes the team as a whole better when running. They cheer each other on and give one another advice on the course.