Cross country season is underway! Runners from both the boys’ and girls’ teams this year are looking to make a strong push in an attempt to win a state championship. Even though there are a few roadblocks the team needs to push through, they are determined to work their hardest.

The runners treat each other like family. The team not only has a competitive passion for running, but they also create a community by traveling around the state to different trails to enhance their speed for the next week.

Junior runner Jade McDaniel is excited for this upcoming season. “I’m most excited for the team bonding and growing together and working hard as a team,” McDaniel said.

The family-like environment on the team significantly helps runners increase race times at meets. The team always hangs out every week outside of practice, which has created a super strong team chemistry.

“Some goals this team has are that we just really want to put forth 100% effort at practice every day to make sure we can reach our full potential on race day,” said McDaniel. However, there are some challenges both teams will have to face. Colorado has some successful runners, so the state meet will be stacked with competition.

Even though there is some very tough competition, it’s not slowing the team down. “I think a big challenge for our team will be pushing ourselves during hard workouts and facing adversity when we don’t race as well as we hoped for one week,” said McDaniel.

Even with these challenges, the team is determined to win, and they will continue to work their hardest to ensure they can perform their best at the state championship in a few months.