Varsity cross country: Meets after Irma

BY HANNAH EUBANKS

After training all summer and looking forward to the school year full of meets, the Cowboys cross country team had their second meet of the season. Due to the uncontrollable setbacks of Hurricane Irma, the Cowboys had to miss out on a few of the meets they had been training for.

Both the girls and boys did well and made a good showing after their time off. Over the summer, many members of the team went to North Carolina for a week for a cross country camp. This allowed them to bond before the school year started and gave them a jump start to a successful season. The team has been outside almost every day, training to catch up the days they lost. They started off by distance running four to nine miles and then improved their speed. The second meet at Central Park was an overall success for the Cowboys as a team and for many individuals. They were up against Plantation High, Cypress Bay, Everglades, Hallandale, Piper, South Broward and St. Thomas.

”We trained really hard all summer and seem to be doing well,” senior Aimee Becker said. “But we have not raced much to see if anyone has improved since the beginning or what needs to be worked on.”

As the meet concluded, almost every Lady Cowboy ran a personal record, their hard work and talents paying off after all the distractions they had been faced with. They proved their training had been helping, promising future improvement as the season progresses. The Cowboys maintained a united front throughout the meet, cheering each other on and pushing one another to do their best. The Cowboys trained hard this summer so that they could push through that last mile. The girls and boys even train together, creating more of a competitive atmosphere in practices. It may be an individual race, but the Cowboys run as one. They win and lose together, making each person want to do better individually so they don’t let their teammates down. 

All around, the boys and girls did very well. Their first boy to finish was Zach Zalezki. He finished  the race in 18 minutes and 59 seconds. The top runner for the girls was Aimee Becker, finishing in 22 minutes 59 seconds, which was twelfth place. Each school can run up to 10 people per meet, which is about 80 people running at one time. With those times and others coming in not far behind, the Cowboys had a successful run.

Although the season has been cut short for the Cowboys, they seem to have a plan to take on all of their next meets, with the ultimate goal of going to states.

Photo by Sabrine Brismeur