Cross country: Team practices for potential district meet

BY HANNAH EUBANKS

After a very hectic season, the CCHS cross country team had one of their biggest meets of the season on Thursday, October 12 at Markham Park in Sunrise. At the meet, they ran against teams from all over the county. Although this could be considered a mock meet where the Cowboys could get an idea of how they may rank in districts, it is just as important as districts itself in terms of practice. The Lady Cowboys would not have qualified as a team to move onto regionals if this had been the real deal distict meet, nor did anyone for the girls individually. However, the boys did have five runners qualify for what would be regionals, though not as a team.

The Cowboys faced many obstacles at this meet. For example, the weather conditions caused a lightning delay at the very start. This increased tensions and distracted the mindset of runners going into the race. Once the delay had passed, conditions were still on and off again with rain and wind.

“I do cross country and track every year,” sophomore Cailin Reto said. “I have tons of fun and have made unbreakable friendships. Just because we did not come out with a bang like we had hoped, does not stop us from training as hard as we can to get where we need to in this next week for districts.”

The boys cross country team did what they could to bring home a victory. Competing against over 200 runners with the same goal brought tensions and nerves to the Cowboys. Despite their defeat, the Lady Cowboys were there for the boys. Five boys qualified for the districts meet, including Isaac Murillo with a time of 21:02, Randy Garcia at 19:33, Ian Espinoza at 20:52, Alejandro Baquedano at 21:21, Glenn Mims at 19:50 and Zack Zaleski at 18:39.

After this meet, those who qualified will be attending the district meet with the expectancy to qualify in hopes of going to regionals, and finally, states. Overall, the cross country team made a good impression throughout the season, representing Cooper City High school in a bright light.

Photo by Sabrine Brismeur