For most of us, running one mile is enough to satisfy our athletic endeavors for the month. Two miles or more seems out of this world. However, not for cross country. At competitions, the girls are required to run two miles and boys run five kilometers. Cross country runners work hard to push themselves further each time to improve their individual time, and strengthen their endurance. When people drive to school ever day, it is difficult to miss the many cross country runners that are train every morning every week day.
Their hard work shined through when they successfully placed 3rd at the National Tournament at Oklahoma State University two weeks ago. The cross country team raced against 30 other schools, from states such as Arkansas and Colorado, that were all classified under the 6A division.
Senior Leah Butterfield has high hopes to place in state this year, despite their region which is considered very competitive. This is her last year as a cross country runner in high school, and Butterfield is confident that her self motivation will get her through to compete in college cross country.
“ I love it because you can track your improvement really well,” said Butterfield. “Every mile you do you can get better. You can have your improvement on paper.”
Butterfield describes the inner team competitiveness, which motivates each member to do their best.
“Pain is all in your head you just gotta push it out,” said Butterfield. “I try and focus on one part of my body that doesn’t hurt like a finger, and focus my mind on that finger.”
Placing 9th individually at Oklahoma, senior Gretta Smith describes her passion for the sport as something that she would love to continue. Like Butterfield, she also hopes to see herself running on a team in college. And beyond college, in10 years, she sees herself still training, and running road races.
“I was really exciting because we’ve really improved a lot from last year,” said Smith. “ We’ve really come a long way.”
Smith’s favorite part about the sport is the simplicity and the individual mindset runners must have to reach their goals.
“You can always get better and better, you can always set new goals,” said Smith. “And it is entirely up to you how much you put into it is how much you will get out of it. You are the only one who can make yourself better, no one else can do that for you.”
