The AT girls cross country teams has been working towards its goals since they started their season this summer.
The girls team had their first invitational meet on Sept. 3 at Fenton.
Senior Lettia Hoda led the team in this race earning a time of 21:00.2 at Fenton, and came in 42nd place at the end of the race.
“So far I’m having a lot of fun and I’m really excited for the season, and I am looking forward to continuing to make fun memories with my team,” said Hoda.
At Fenton the varsity team came in 18th place with a total of 466 points and a spread of 4:33 minutes between athletes.
The team has faced some challenges throughout the season with meets being rescheduled due to issues such as the weather, though they have been able to come back from it.
“The season has gotten off to a solid start,” said girls cross country coach Micheal Barnd. “We had our first meet against Proviso postponed due to weather, but I thought our girls did well to respond to the change in our schedule. When we did run against Proviso, our team ran with toughness and we were able to pick up a victory in our first meet of the year.”
The team came had their first meet of the season at Proviso. Hoda lead the team in the 3.16 mile race getting a time of 22.15, Senior Ximena Juarez came in a close second with a time of 23.36.
The team this year is considerably larger than previous seasons with a total of 52 athletes signed up.
“The team continues to grow from previous seasons and there are just such positive vibes and energy this year. 52 athletes is definitely a lot to handle, but that’s a great problem to have this season,” said Barnd.
The team continues to work on accomplishing the many goals they have set for themselves this season as they make their way towards the conference meet.
“We have a few goals as a team this season,” said Barnd. “The first main goal is for every athlete on our team to compete in the conference race later in the season, and to be able to run a race they are proud of. That is the last race that every athlete gets to compete in before moving to the postseason, where only our top 7 runners get to run. Our second main goal is to advance to the sectional meet as a team, which is something that has not been accomplished in a long time.”
Each athlete has their own main goals for the season that they are working towards as well.
“One of my main goals for the season is to break 20,” said Hoda
The team has created a strong bond throughout the season so far and are happy about the positive environment they have.
“The atmosphere and vibes around this team are always really positive, so we are looking forward to the new memories and stories that will be created from practices and meets as well,” said Barnd.
