The cross country season started in early August with daily grueling nine-mile runs by the varsity team. The team runs in town, on the Creeper Trail, and in Sugar Hollow State Park. Their hard work has been paying off, though. The boy’s team is going strong, placing third at their first meet, the Clash with the Titans in Roanoke, Va.

     When they ran at the Blue Demon Invitational in Christiansburg, they came in second overall. At their meet in Salem, Va. at Green Hill Park for the Knight’s Crossing Invitational, the boys were still placing at fifth place. The girl’s team placed eleventh for the first meet in Roanoke, but did not place in the next two meets. Senior Maggie Knox is proud to be the highest-placing runner on the girl’s team, though. She placed fifth at Christiansburg and twenty-fifth at Salem. The cross country team most recently ran in Marion where the course was newly changed. The Marion course is now on a mountain and spans a full 5K ring, or 3.1 miles. The scores for the meet have not been released yet.

     Cross country is a vigorous sport. Phillip Studholme, a senior, says when training for the sport, along with running the team does “ballerinas,” a jumping-jack like movement, and lunges. The team trains all summer long, hoping to travel to the state meet in November. Studholme says the season hasn’t started out well for him, but he says, he has a lot more running to do.