On your mark. Get set. GOALS.

In the school year of 2011-2012, our cross country  girls team made it to states. For the year of 2012-2013 the entire team is hoping to get to and win states. The teams goal is to go to districts, but there main goal is to make it to states since they’ve gone six years in a row.

“I think we have the potential to go far this year,” said junior Caroline Alcorta. This year the team has many strong runners that will help them win this year.  The team practices everyday for two hours and their plan everyday is usually the same.

The team warms up in the wresting room by walking, skipping, and then stretching. Then the team receives instructions from coaches Watt, Adams, and Pellegrini  on what they are going to do for practice, after the team does what they are told, they come back to the wrestling room and stretch and also do abdominal workouts. On Wednesdays, because of the late openings, the top seven girls have morning practices starting at seven am.

Team bonding is also a huge factor in succeeding in their goals, the team does a lot of their bonding when they go to Camp Varsity for a week.  By spending much time together at Camp Varsity and by running long distances as a pack, it helps the team become stronger physically and form a better relationship together.

The top 13 girls and 12 boys get invited to go to a camp called Cacapon in West Virginia. The camp is only four days with boys and girls going at different times. At Cacapon the runners do a series of different running activities. They do a mountain run which is four miles and team relays. The counselors also helps the runners set goals.

“ [The team] has very good chemistry,” said senior Billy Rabil. The fact that the team gets along well together helps the team do better in races because they help motivate each other to do well in races.

At Cacapon, their were team bonding activities as well, such as bowling and going out to dairy queen as a reward. At Camp Varsity the team made bracelets, had an ice cream party, and dance parties. The team also ran together, which also helped with bonding.

By working together as a team and doing a lot of activities in their workouts, the cross country team will hopefully achieve their goals.

“We have to work together as a team to achieve our goals,” said junior Luke Toth.