The Christoval Cougars cross country teams are chasing more than gold medals this season. After making it to states twice in a row during the past two years, the Cougars are looking to win it all.
Leading up to the start of the season, the Cougars have been training hard, participating in exercises like a downhill mile, and 30-40-minute runs. The amount of hard work and effort the teams are putting in now is something head coach Brady Clark knows will pay off soon.
“I can't stress enough how hard we work these kids, they go through a lot. We're talking 30, 40 miles a week. They've got injuries that they battle through, we got a couple of kids coming back from injuries. It doesn't matter to them. They just keep working hard. It's just it's really fun to get to be with them and they respond so well,” Clark said.
For the runners, waking up early to run several miles isn’t always the easiest task but seniors like Sadie Clark are happy that she doesn’t have to do it alone.
“I’m not going to take a single moment for granted, it’s all just so much fun. The workouts are brutal but in the end it’s like wow I just did that with my teammates and it’s awesome to like talk about it and everything,” Clark said.
The family-like atmosphere is what has been keeping the Cougars going even when the race feels impossible to finish. Senior Landon Scott has been helping his team stay motivated along the way.
“Some of these guys they come in dreading every practice like a long run or a mile repeat and I’m just there to make sure we have positive words at the start line to get each race started,” Scott said.
The cross-country team will suit up for its first meet on August 27, at Eldorado.
