The 2023-2024 cross country season is running fast. A new year has begun and athletes at Eagle High are taking their running to the next level. The cross-country runners push their limits and endure through the pain, in order to enhance their speed and endurance.

In order to achieve their best, runners have to eat and sleep right to make sure their body is in prime shape.  

“Cross County is not just running, it’s something that you dedicate time and put in work for,” said senior and cross-country runner Nate Collins. The runners use lots of their free time to train which all starts in the summer. 

Over the summer, the team has held practices every weekday starting around 8 a.m. and going to 10 a.m. or longer depending on the distance of the run. 

Students who participate in cross country at Eagle High devote a lot of their summer to this sport, but also practice and compete throughout the school year. They practice every weekday after school, and they also dedicate several weekends traveling to meets in different states.  

“Traveling has got to be my favorite part and doing it with the team makes it even more fun,” Collins said. 

Recently, the team traveled to a meet in Oregon and performed exceptionally well. Most of the races are five kilometers, which is 3.1 miles. In the 5k, the men’s team finished third in the district and the woman’s finished second. 

At the moment, the team is preforming exceptionally, and districts is coming up soon, so the cross-country runners will be looking to perform in the top eight in order to qualify for state. 

Cross County has officially begun, and all the hours of work put in by these runners will surely be shown throughout the season.