Cross Country hits the ground running with new coach

Spartan Cross Country has been enjoying their practices this year, COVID guidelines have become looser and they have a new coach, Gary Pary.

The captains are junior Becca Richman, senior Justin Troth, junior Ceci Watson and senior Naci Konar Steenberg. The combined cross country team has about 25 members. “We haven’t had to wear masks this year at all because we’ve been fully outside,” said sophomore Siri Pattison, “We have also been able to have full in person meets with more schools.”

With this mask policy change, students are able to connect more with each other and have fun practicing after school.

Cross Country is a great community that is open to anyone and the new coach makes adjustments to fit any skill level, and that includes beginners that have no running experience. “The new coach is great, he has quickly become well liked and his knowledge of the sport is drastically improving everyone’s abilities and times,” said sophomore Ford Reedy.

Sophomore Carys Hardy added that, “I think our team really likes him, shout-out to Gary Pary. He’s training us really smart and I think we’re gonna see some good times this year.”

Keep in mind running is something that the body needs time to get used to and it can take many months until it starts getting enjoyable. This can be hard when the team aims to run 40 miles a week. “Saturday long runs are great for team building, our last one was eight and a half miles. Those are just relaxing,” Hardy said.

Reedy said, “My favorite part of being on the team is everybody on it.”

Cross Country’s next meet is Oct. 2, with Orono, Blake and Minnehaha Academy, hosted at Breck.