After months of hard training, a few top runners made it to cross country states.  Coach, Mrs. O’Leary starts “Preparation at the very end of the previous year when I had out their summer running packet.”  O’Leary says that by starting training in the summer, less people are injured and runners have an easier time doing well.
Though there is a girls team and a boys team, the two train together, co-ed.  “Everybody does the same workout”, says O’Leary, “they don’t train any differently from the girls.”  The team is a well-oiled machine, working together to achieve their goals.  “Everyone there is really supportive of each other.” says sophomore Delany Flickinger.
While some were just enjoying the ride, others were completely horrified.  “It was terrifying,” says Laurel Brown. “I wasn’t very excited for it.”  This kind of apprehensiveness is to be expected, though, as Brown is only a freshman, making it to states for the very first time.   Sophomore Will Tikiob was also a little nervous before the race, but went on to say “I was on a diet and we did all our runnings so we were good.”
In addition to the varying opinions on how states went, the runners also had different ways of preparing. Sophomore Ethan Sweany said, “I slept and ate a lot of pasta the night before.”  While Sweany took the more physical route of relaxing and fueling his body, Flickinger prepared in more of a mental way.  “I guess the best way to prepare was just to realize that it was just a fun race and it didn’t matter the score, where you placed.”  However different, both methods proved to be successful, as O’Leary says “it was a great year for both the boys and the girls.”
Other than one mishap in the beginning of the race, “they made me take my shirt off at the line,” says Sweaney,  “and I started behind everyone” the rest went smoothly.  O’Leary was very pleased with how this states went and it was another great states under the team’s wing.