By Hazel Hurlbut 

   Feeling hot? The cross country team is! The middle and the high school cross country seasons are up and running and are both going well. 

   The middle school team has five people and according to their coach, Mr. Wilkinson “they seem to get along well”. They recently had their first meet and everyone finished the 1.95 mile course, some even setting personal records. 

   The team is young, mainly consisting of 6th and 7th graders and the heat has been a challenge for everyone. The team hasn’t “been able to run that far because of the heat”, says 7th grader Max Morales. 

   Overall, Mr. Wilkinson enjoys coaching cross country for the middle schoolers and his team enjoys running and working to improve their times. 

   The high school cross country season is also going well. There are 14 runners, nine of which are boys, a huge contrast to last year’s two. 

   They also recently had their first meet. The team had “a great time” although it “was a little hot” says captain Tamsin Hurbut. Many runners improved their meet time from last year and a couple even set new personal records. 

   The team’s dynamic this year is great and the team has “had a lot of team bonding” according to runner Kailana Williams. They also have “a lot of support for each other” according to coach Doc Hickernell. The team is very close and everyone enjoys hanging out with one another. 

   The team has been very welcoming to newcomers and one of freshman Jude Walker’s favorite parts of cross country so far has been meeting new people and becoming friends with others on the team. 

   However, the heat has also been a challenge for the high school team. The team practices for two hours right after school almost every day and there has only been a couple of practices under one hundred degrees. According to team captain Tamsin Hurlbut the heat has been “impacting our ability to practice and perform at our best”. 

   Despite the heat, the team continued to improve and enjoyed a successful season.