Girls Cross Country showing immense strides

Laci Provenzano, junior, has been running varsity cross country since her freshman year, the same year she started. She placed third out of 129 people in the girls varsity cross country race on Sept. 5. She ran a 5k (3.1 miles) in 19:14 which averages to a 6:18 mile. 

The coaches have high hopes for the girls cross country team this year. With Provenzano placing in the top ten every race, and the young seventh-ninth graders running varsity, the coaches have every reason to be excited. The young team is showing the intensity to train hard and put it all on the line.

“It’s exciting to see them bond knowing most of them will race together for 3 or more years,” said Coach Ronni Hamilton.

Cross country is not a sport for everyone. Having a good girls team is an incredible opportunity to succeed in a sport that is hard to succeed in. The girls cross country team hasn’t won state since 2002. Therefore, everyone is very excited to see how close these girls can come to redeeming themselves.

“It is all mental and it’s pure pain. There is no resting part to recover, the pain is always there and only grows,” said Jordan Kuhl, freshman.

 With such a young team, there is a lot of coaching that has to be done. Coaches work all day to come up with the best workouts and routines to help these girls run to the best of their abilities. However, when it comes to racing, the coaches have to back off and trust that these ladies will run with what they have taught them.

The girls have a special bond that they share through this sport. It is a sport where you have to share how you feel so people can give you the encouragement to keep going. This causes the ladies to have many inside jokes about each other to help them smile through the pain of running. 

These ladies are a family and have to encourage one another to do their best, which really proves the stigma wrong that cross country is a “me” sport.