Cross Country wins IMAC conference
October 24, 2022
Runner prepare themselves. Members of the girls cross country team get into position before their race begins.
Winning. A word synonymous with competitive sports that undermines a more meaningful value: improvement.
This word drove the cross-country team to new heights throughout all levels of competition.
Despite individual achievements, including beating his own personal record for the five-kilometer race four times, junior Ford Reedy’s favorite memory pertained to junior varsity.
“We had a meet that only our JV team was running and every single member achieved a new personal record. It was awesome for them but also awesome for the varsity team to cheer them on,” he said.
The girl’s achieved an outstanding feat: winning the Independent Metro Athletic Conference Championship.
For sophomore Taylor Barkwell, this milestone was a result of a season of discipline.
She said cross country is about finding “the discipline to put in the work when it’s not easy. To show up every day and give it your all. To continue to improve upon yourself.”
Along with setting records, the team adopted traditions to encourage runners to improve their times.
For captain Violet Benson, this came in the form of a pun: personal record tiaras, or P-R-aras.
“This season, I wanted to find a fun way to recognize and celebrate when people got personal records. Then one day, I saw these cheap little tiaras and with a little bit of glitter glue, I made the P-R-aras. The practice after a meet, the people who ran PRs got to wear their crowns,” Benson said.
Cross-country exhibited the will to improve and progress, whether racing against their own time or for the championship.