What’s Cross Country About?
Cross Country is about running long distances. At our meets, the race is 5 kilometers or 3.1 miles. Most meets have good courses that are flat but a little muddy, some of our harder meets have lots or elevation with uneven ground. A normal practice lasts around an hour and a half where we’ll just run whatever miles our coach tells us to. I’d say that our team is very close with one another and we all had a great season together.
Preseason
Cross country has an optional preseason where anyone can show up at Civic Center for practice. The mileage is always easy and it’s just a way to prep your endurance so you’re ready as soon as the season starts. We start this around 2 weeks after school gets out for summer. There will be no workouts, just running.
Start of the Season
At the start of every season we have our first meet at the same course, Ford Field Livina. Lamplighter is a special course for a few reasons. First, it’s the only meet all season where we run at night time. Second, since it’s some people’s first meet, it’s where they’ll get a feel for cross country. Third, if you pr you’ll get to ring a pr bell. Honestly, no one did well at Lamplighter and some freshmen even went the wrong way getting a dq. It was still a fun meet though. The start of the season also brings workouts which are intense reps at a pace coach tells us.
Middle of the Season
This is where our Freshmen really showed what they were made of with crazy times for their age. Joseph and Ryland in particular were running really well with really good times, even coming first for the team at some races. Not just Ryland and Joseph, but the entire team was getting better times. Right around here is when our millage for practices increased and workout were more intense and often.
End of the Season
The important meets near the end were Algonac Fox and Hounds, MAC Blue, Region 16 at Linden, and Last Chance. At Algonac the boys and girls team got 2nd and took home a plaque, MAC Blue the boys and girls also got 2nd. At Linden, if you were top 13 individual you went to state and only Hannah was able to go this year since she got 9th, she’s on track to go to state all 4 years and also be the only Athlete in Lamphere history to be an MVP 4 years in a row, in two sports. Finally for our Seniors last meet ever, Last Chance, only McKenna and Te’Azia were able to finish her race because Henry has been dealing with injuries for 2 years and I wasn’t feeling well enough to race. But there were 8 prs. Ryland- 18:13. Victor- 20:12. Joshua- 22:54. Ezekiel- 23:08. Joaquin- 25:40. Vy- 24:35. Macee- 29:34. Te’Azia- 30:27. For normal practice, we started a taper which is when we run less mileage and workouts become even shorter with a little less intensity.
States
On Saturday November 1st, 2025, Hannah ran at states. Myself, Joseph, Henry, went to cheer her on. States for D2 lower peninsula Michigan is over at the Michigan International Speedway which is where some NASCAR races are held. It’s a very cool place for States to be held and I believe the course is pretty nice. Hannah got 116th place with a time of 20:07.20. She did better at states than regionals but went from 9th to 116th. This shows how difficult the competition is when you are up against the best. 16:50:10 was the best time for girls and 15:07.1 was the best boys time. Congratulations again to Hannah for running at state, hopefully she can four-peat and go to state all throughout high school.
Reflection
Personally, I am very happy with how our team performed and I believe that even single boy freshmen will get a better time than me come their senior year. All of them right now are doing better than my freshmen time and I know coach will put them to work. For the exceptional freshmen, Joseph and Ryland, I think by their senior year they will be running low 16’s and maybe one of them can get under 15. I really hope everyone on the Cross Country teams also does long distance for track, especially Ryland since he also does baseball. I loved this team for my senior year and I know the other Seniors feel the same. I’ll miss my coach but will visit every now and again for next year’s meets to see how the team does without me. I’m a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to go to states but it just wasn’t meant to be, I guess my brother Joseph will just have to go next year for me.
