DMS Sports

What is Cross Country?

Cross Country is a cardio sport in which teams and individuals compete in open-air races over natural terrains such as dirt or grass. The courses are normally 3-12 kilometers long and may pass through woodlands, open fields, flat grounds, and sometimes gravel roads with minor obstacles. Runners are judged by individual time and teams by a point-scoring method. Cross Country happens during the fall and winter, with varying weather conditions, such as snow, sleet, hail with a wide range of temperatures.

Who is doing Cross Country in DMS?

Cross Country teams in our school are separated by gender and grade level. The 8th graders representing our school and have competed against other schools are Jaxon Andrade, Joaquin Arroyo, Grace Birket, Camden Borkowski, Jaden Caldo, Abraham Carranza, Jacob Crumlett, Julian Delatorre, Sam Domico, Charlie Elvin, Joseph Flaskamp, Levi Gober, Hayden Haegele, Siri Insko, Nathan Leindecker, Molly Linden, Lev Little, Hamza Malkani, Brigid McCrate, Ethan Megyery, Ellowyn Minot, Walter Minot, Brooke Rubel, Valentina ServinPeralta, William Stanski, Landin Swinson- Hernandez, Connor Tibetts and Donovan Wilcox.

Why should you join Cross Country?

Cross Country is one of the best sports for those who like running, and enjoy a little challenge while doing so. Cross Country gives you an opportunity to connect with others and the nature all around you, while also building up your conditioning and muscle endurance at the same time. Running is also widely considered to be one of the best stress relieving activities, while also helping you physically and mentally. Cross Country is also very recommended for those who enjoy competitive running. 

Interview with the sponsor, Mrs. Benge.

The sponsor for the 8th grade Cross Country team is orchestra teacher Mrs. Benge. This interview with her will give us more information about what cross country is all about, and some more insight on all their meets. 

Q; What got you interested in being the cross country sponsor?

A; I was a cross country runner in high school, and I loved it. I still love running, like even on my own time, and so I wanted to share that with the middle school students at Dundee Middle School, and that’s why I’m here today.

Q; What year was your absolute favorite during cross country?

A; I mean, every year has been my favorite year. This year has been a lot of fun, especially cause we got to do a lot more invitational meets, so we got to take kids outside of our district. They got to see more. They get more experience with runners that are outside of D300, which is really cool.

Q; Out of all the teams over the years, is there one that you liked the most?

A; I don’t know, that’s a tough choice. Each team is very unique and they have their own strengths and- I don’t know, that’s a tough choice.

Q; How do cross country practices usually go?

A; We start at around four o’clock, well, the goal is to get out the door at four o’clock, and they’re until five thirty, so it’s an hour and a half of lots of running and lots of exercises. We always start with at least 10 minutes of warm up laps, so it’s not how many laps you can do, it’s timed warm up and it’s very slow. There’s usually some kind of workout where we’re doing tempo runs, like you have to run your fastest pace for 30 seconds or we’ll tell you how you should run. We’re always critiquing on the technique of running because there is a way that you are supposed to run and I think when you are running yourself, you can’t see how you’re running so I’m often correcting kids’ postures, and then at some point of the practice, we’re doing core workouts, so kids are doing crunches, push ups, and planks- that’s usually somewhere in our work outs as well- and then we finish practice with stretching because you always gotta stay loose.

Q; Would you recommend Cross Country to any 6th, 7th, or next year’s 8th graders?

A; Oh absolutely. I used to run track when I was a little kid and then I started cross country randomly out of nowhere- I got recruited in high school- it was one of those college fairs, and I had like a couple girls that knew me through other people and they were like, “Hey you kinda run, you should join the cross country team!” and if I could be pulled onto the team out of nowhere and survive cross country and enjoy it, I think anyone else can too, so as long as you’re willing to work, you can do it- anyone can do it.

We congratulate the cross country teams for all their hard work and wins during their meets, and we hope to see that same hard work for all the years to come!