The Marlins Cross Country team started this season with good form. Senior Ethan Cravens, who has been part of the team since he was a freshman, said that even though this season might be challenging, both teams are working hard to keep going.
“This season has been a little rocky but our women’s team has done absolutely good. If you compare their time from where they were at the beginning of the season, versus where they are now and the runs they have made have been fantastic,” Cravens said. He added that the men’s team are also progressing, however, the team that is definitely starting to show up is the women’s team.
A few weeks ago in the Maroon/Highlander Invitational, junior Haley Witt finished in the 15th place with a season’s best of 24:44.6 in the 6k. In that same event, junior Emily Petsko crossed the finish line with a personal record of 25:29.1. All of these and other contributions from the women’s team helped the team to place 6th at this invitational event.
Practice for this team is not just running a few laps around the school, they have to do workouts consisting of balance, ability and resistance. “We workout to improve ourselves in different aspects. We have workouts that help us increase our resistance, so we can last longer and run faster at the races. We also incorporate easy runs to reduce the possibility of getting injured,” Cravens said.
Many challenges have been posed to the team, however, Cravens stated that the team have been very successful in managing those challenges. “For most of us, running helps us. At the meets, the atmosphere there is different and once you step up on the line it changes everything,” Cravens said. “A lot of the guys got injured before the season, but we are trying our best to get everyone on track again.”
As of right now, the Cross Country team is focused on their next event which is the ODAC Cross Country championship coming on Oct. 30.
By: Steven Serrano Cruz
sdserranocruz@vwu.edu
