Cross country looking to increase number of team members

Posted Oct. 13, 2021

By Huda Aden

Staff Reporter

The cross country season officially started on August 16, following summer workouts.

Coach Isaac Frederick is looking for more distance runners. The team consists of 18 runners: 11 boys and 7 girls. Frederick would like 36 runners, from freshman through seniors. He usually looks at middle school track records, but since the pandemic, there was not track season the past two years, so he’s looking for runners in gym classes, by distributing flyers, and through announcements.

“Damion Stenerson is doing a great job leading the boy’s team, being our top finisher for the Scots’ past two meets,” Frederick said. “Mary Loman has been the top runner on the lady’s side the past two meets. Both teams have improved significantly from week one and are racing very well. I try to motivate athletes by continually talking about the process of improving. Every day is and opportunity to get better and have breakthroughs in training, increasing weekly mileage, running faster repetitions in training and focusing on their goals each day.”

A typical practice starts off with a quick meeting to start the practice. The runners complete a team warm-up and then go through sets of dynamic exercises to warm up muscles and joints to improve their flexibility. They then go through sets of running drills, followed by four, 100 meter strides. They run between 3-6 miles. Than they complete a core workout, followed by a cool down stretch.

“When the team is struggling we usually sit down in a classroom and have a team meeting to discuss the reason for their struggles and the best way to solve the problem,” Frederick said. “Every problem has a solution, so we have a sit down to find the solution and implement that solution.”

After the cross country season, distance runners tend to join a winter sport or participate in the winter track and field training. In spring, cross country runners tend to join the track team. Coaches also expect these athletes to run three to five days a week over the the summer break. They share the goal to be the best cross country runner, teammate, student, and person they can be, focusing on attitude, commitment, and effort in all of those aspects.

“The most rewarding part of coaching is seeing student-athletes achieve their goals or even more than they thought they were capable of in their season and in the classroom,” Fredrick said.