The cross country team worked hard to build endurance, doing many campus runs and three-mile runs in practice, and that work paid off in their debut meet on September 15  in Bolivar.

  “They did really good at the first meet. The kids were where they should’ve been for their first meet and some drastic improvements were made from last season.” Coach Ehren Banfield said.

  All of the courses are 3.1 miles, but they consist of different terrain. Some courses are more flat, while others have a lot of hills.

  A few of the athletes ran a new personal best and some placed. In their first meet, junior Ashlee Kuykendall placed twelfth with a time of 22:07 and sophomore Dallas Larsen had placed sixth with a time of 17:58.

  In their second meet Kuykendall had also placed first with a time of 20:59 and Larson placed second with a time of 17:30. Senior Rickie Branson medalled and also placed tenth with a time of 24:12.

  “Running is the bomb dot com,” sophomore Mikayla Andrews said.

  Being in cross country takes a lot of endurance, and might be hard for someone who is just starting out.

  “If you want to be in cross country, you should eat healthy, run a lot, and build up some endurance,” said Kuykendall.

  Most of the fun that they have, isn’t happening while running. Some of the fun they have is watching from the sidelines, or before and after the meet.

  “I remember this one time there was a race, and we had to run through this mud pit. Well, this guy tried to jump over it, and fell directly in the middle,” said Andrews.

  Many of the team members commented on how they liked eating out when they go to the meets.

  “When we go to Taco Bell and someone gets up to go to the bathroom, you get hot sauce in your drink. You should never leave your food unattended, ever,” Banfield said.