The Cross-country season is underway, and the Huskies opened their season on September 6th at the Greg Wilson Classic, held at Johnson County Community College.

Although the boys’ team finished 5th and the girls finished 7th in this first meet, Coach Marriott was proud of his team. 

“I think both of them did really well,” Marriott said, “I thought they worked well together in the middle of the race and got a lot accomplished.”

Marriott said one of the standouts for this opening meet was junior Jacob D’Souza. D’Souza scored a first-place finish in the boys’ varsity 5k run. He said he is excited for the rest of the season after a solid start, even though he never knows how the first meet will go. 

“There are times when I don’t feel as good, but that doesn’t usually mean I’m not gonna run well,” D’Souza said.

Marriott said he was optimistic after the opening meet and D’Souza’s win.  According to him, he wants his runners to learn to take risks in races and then analyze their race splits afterward to target improvement for future races. 

Marriott said no matter what happens, his runners will always learn something and get better. 

“As long as you look at things in a positive way, it makes that whole ‘take a chance’ not as scary,” Marriott said.

 Again this year, Marriott is implementing the use of the pool to avoid shin splints.

“Our main thing that we do in the pool is kickboards, which help strengthen all the muscles in your legs. When we strengthen those areas, we’re not going to get shin splints and things like that,” Marriott said.

Junior Isabella Large ran the Girls Varsity 5k Run at the Greg Wilson Classic and said the cross-country team is a great community. Large said attitude is everything when it comes to racing.

“Running is hard, especially the workouts we do. You have to be really mentally strong to get through it, because it isn’t easy.” Large said. 

The next cross country meet is at Baldwin Golf Course on Oct. 4 from 9-10 a.m..