By Julia Conforti, staff writer
Indian Trail High School & Academy’s cross country team has been practicing since August for their meets, with a total of 12 meets scheduled to take place. Races are 5k runs — about 3.1 miles long. Before this year, girls only ran 4k races — 2.5 miles — but now girls run the same length as the boys do.
These races can take awhile to complete. Team member Patrick Jazdzewski, a General Studies sophomore, said it takes him about 22 minutes to complete this track. The fast- est track was run by world famous runner Eric Reynolds who only took 14 minutes to complete his race.
Despite popular belief, track and cross country are two completely different sports. Track is 400 meters and has 13 or 14 meets. It involves running, jumping, and throwing, while cross country races up hills and trails.
While most sports will use running laps as a punish- ment for misconduct, cross country is all about run- ning. Jenna Conforti, a General Studies sophomore, said that she chose this sport because she enjoys run- ning and wished to gain more college recognition.
It isn’t a very team-oriented sport though, according to Jaztemski. All team members are there for moral support and to represent their school, but runners perform independently. Still, the whole team will represent their own school.
Coach Brian Vanderhoef said the team is growing in numbers and talent each year. His goals for this year is for the team to run at their personal best each week. It’s a goal he believes his team can reach, he said, calling this year’s team his “most talented.”