District Champions: Girls’ cross country finishes the season with a win

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The cross country season recently ended and the girls’ cross country team was very successful, placing first at Districts, becoming the district champions and qualifying for Regionals.

Only the top two teams and top ten individual runners at Districts qualify for Regionals.

“We surpassed our goal of qualifying to Region by winning Districts,” said girls’ head coach Brandon Coslor. “I am very proud of the girls and the hard work they put in this season.”

For some girls, winning Districts was completely unexpected.

“It was really exciting to not only qualify for Regionals but to win districts,” junior Lauren Koong said. “I didn’t even expect us to make it out of districts. I was so shocked when I found out.”

However, it took a lot of hard work to make it this far.

“We practice every day at 5:30 am,” senior Olivia Pare said. “With the new addition of Coach Coslor, we definitely have had a lot harder workouts and longer practices, but it paid off!”

According to Coslor, one of the many challenges he faced this season was adjusting to a team.

“We need to be more competitive and committed but it was hard because we had a new group of girls who had never run cross country before,” Coslor said. “Only four girls had run cross country before. I’m proud of how they adjusted to a new philosophy on running.”

Another challenge the team fought this season was the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Running with Covid was interesting but we got used to it,” Koong said. “Because of Covid, we had shorter practices and there were limited teams at meets. When we were in the weight room, we had to wear masks at all times. We even had to run with gaitors on for the first 200 meters at Districts.”

Despite the challenges they faced this season, the girls are very happy with how their season ended.

“I can’t believe how well we did this season,” Pare said. “Not just because we won districts, which we haven’t done in a long time, but we improved so much. Most of us set personal records almost every week and I’m really happy with how this season ended.”