Early on in the season, the HEHS cross country team scored second place at a meet; although, it was not first place, the team actually exceeded its own goals. Since then, the only way the team has been moving is even faster toward the finish line.
Although the team hasn’t won a meet so far this season, they do not allow that to cause them to collapse under the pressure. The team is dealing with the varsity team losing most of its roster and as Liam Brown, freshman, said “the underclassmen like the freshmen and the sophomores have to pick up their weight because there aren’t many juniors and seniors.”
Eddie Ayala, freshman, said that he personally thinks “the jump from 8th grade to freshman year is difficult, but I’m still going to do the best I can.” There has been improvement, however. Andrew Tizyo, freshman, said our “… times have almost gotten a minute better.”
Even though the roster has changed, the freshman runners are working hard to show improvement this season. “Our team has been weakened, but we still have done [a decent job],” said Brown.
The tight-knit nature of the team helps them to weather any disappointments. Brown describes the team as a “…very open circle…” Tizyo added that “the team has been lively.”
There seems to be a consensus that the team has worked hard to stay positive and focus on improvement. “We’ve done pretty good despite our problems,” said Adam Osvoll, freshman. “We just use our calf muscles to move forward.”
