By Adriana Moreno, staff writer
Cross-country began in England in the early 1800s. The original races were run on much rougher tertian than today’s courses. Participants back then had to run through streams, jump fences, and go through hedges. In track, the Steeplechase, mimics these earlier races because participants have to jump over large wooden barriers, and over a water jump. Currently, the World Cross Country Championships are held once a year.
Indian Trail High school and Academy has very committed students that participate in the Cross Country team this year. Even though most people believe that it is a tough sport, with practice comes improvement, runners such as senior Elisa Murguia says.
IT’s Cross-Country team has been working really hard this season. They dedicate themselves to attend after and before school practices so they can improve themselves.
“The first days of the week are intense, varying from hill workouts to thousand meter repeats and weight room workouts. Closer to the end of the week there is always a recovery run to get your muscles loose, and before every meet the practices are pretty light and the team always have a fun activity to do,” said Murguia, a Med-Sci Academy student.
This season they have been doing a great job finishing races no matter how difficult they are.
“The team is doing great, the boys varsity team won their first, first place trophy in a meet and the girls JV has places members in plenty of the meets and place first in the Ladies Invite. Girls varsity and boys JV are doing great as well. All together everyone is constantly improving and breaking their personal records,” said Murguia.
Runners say the beauty of cross country is that it’s them against not only the competition and themselves, but also Mother Nature. Cross Country is a team sport that not only helps participants meet new people it even makes the team feel like a family. Cross Country is a team sport because everyone competing is as important as the top runner. A first-place finish is all for naught if teammates are unable to follow suit and push the team score into higher scores. Teammates push everyone to be able to finish the races not only because it’s good for the team but it also feels like someone’s own accomplishment.
“Struggling and suffering through a meet/race together makes everyone endure the pain but in the end it really is one of the best feelings ever to have run a race. Everyone always greets and congratulates each other at the finish line so we all support one another,” said Murguia.
There are many myths that runners have to be fit to run in cross-country or that they have to have lots of experience running to be able to “survive” a cross-country race. But cross-country is more of a mental sport than physical itself.
“Everyone knows they can run, it’s just a matter of ignoring the pain until you reach the finish line,” said Murguia. “You do not have to be fit to join the sport. If you have resilience and motivation to do it, join, it is completely worth it. Even if it is tough work it’s still the most fun.”
“Cross country is a race to the finish line I remind myself that what happens in the middle or beginning does not necessarily reflect what happens at the end. Therefore, don’t panic if things don’t seem to be going your way,” said Murguia.