The EJHS Cross Country Team
Avi Grile, Maggie McCormack, Greta Vagedes 09/15/22
What do you think of when you hear someone say that they are on the Cross Country team? Do you laugh? Do you ask them why in the world they would do that to themself? Do you congratulate them for going out of their way to get faster and stronger? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you probably know what Cross Country is. For those of you who do not know what we are talking about, Cross Country is a distance running sport.
A huge part of Cross Country is all about improving your time and helping the team race to victory. Ask any of the three coaches, Mr. Norris, Mr. Kensek, and Mrs. Erickson, they will tell you what we have been saying! Running is a great way to make friends, have fun, and get fit! The cross country team has already had many amazing meets. Edgewood is getting great scores and placings so far this season.
Logan Dhom, an 8th grader, is a Cross Country runner who has been running for our school for almost 3 whole years. “Cross Country is not too hard but not too easy either. At the beginning of the season it is pretty difficult but by the end it still feels a little bit challenging but it is also super fun and enjoyable.” Many people get into cross country for multiple reasons. Ranging from trying to get fit to “My mom made me”. Nash Waterford, a 7th-grade Cross Country runner who has been running for our team for about 2 years says “I love running so I can get in shape and stay conditioned.” Cross Country is the perfect sport to condition for really any other sport. Think about your favorite sport, and ask yourself “Do I run at all in this sport?” If the answer is no, now think about if you use you’re legs at all. Well, I bet you do!
Like we said above, the Edgewood cross country has already had some incredible meets. In most of their meets the Edgewood Cross Country team has participated in so far have been very warm, humid, and sunny, but the team persevered and worked super hard to break their personal records whenever it was at all possible. The first meet Edgewood hosted was the Puckett Invitational.
Edgewood girls and boys took second place overall, with Sophia Mobley taking forth and Davin Norris third. The next meet Edgewood had was at Batchelor Middle School. It was a regular meet for the Junior Varsity (JV) but for the top 10 girls and boys on the team, it was a relay. Each Edgewood girl paired up with an Edgewood boy and did a distance relay. Edgewood didn’t place during that race but some of our athletes got a personal record(PR) including Evan Cole with a time drop of over 1 minute. There were many more meets, one of the biggest being ones so far being the Indian Creek Invitational. During that meet, multiple people had significant time drops on the incredibly flat course. The Edgewood girls placed 2nd overall with Sophia Mobley, Nerissa Zelhoff-Arriga, Josephine Buckley, and Greta Vagedes in the lead. The boys team placed 3rd overall with top runners being Daven Norris, A.J. Norris, and Josh Bryce. The next big meet will be on Saturday the 17th. It will be the Eagle Classic at Brown County. Brown County is the course where almost all runners get their PR. There will be around 23 different teams there which makes it hard to get a top placing. But we are hoping the Edgewood Colts Cross Country team do well! We’re wishing them good luck in all their future meets!