BSM’s cross country team is up and running for another season. The team has been training hard during the summer and got to bond a lot while working hard. Both the boys’ and the girls’ teams have high expectations for the season and have already had many successful races.

The boys’ cross country team woke up at 7am every day for practice this summer and also had optional captain’s’ practices that went very well. “The whole point of the summer mileage was to build mileage and not to do too many hard workouts, to make sure not to peak early. On summer training days we would go out and run 5 or 6 miles,” senior captain Jack Hower said. “The training could get tough at certain times but it was a lot of fun. It was my first experience with the cross country team and it was my exposure to the cross country culture,” sophomore Walker Niebergall said. The training this summer brought the boys closer together and are hoping they can use that as a pedestal to help them do well during the season.

The boys’ team also has some very good younger runners——the freshman class is very good and some of the middle schoolers have been showcasing their talent as well. The team has a lot of talent and hope they have a good finish this season.”The season has already started off pretty well, and for the season the team is expecting 1st or 2nd in the Conference,”Hower said.

The girls’ team also spent a lot of time this summer training hard and also had optional captain’s practices that were successful. The women’s team focused on hill workouts and distance during summer training.”We focused on distance to get a solid base before we work on speed,” senior captain Tracey Renier said. The team hopes all of the difficult training will propel them to a top Conference finish.

The girls’ team also has many new and young runners that are itching for varsity spots.  “I’d like to see a lot of the new runners make it up to varsity spots and I think we have a lot of potential on our team. The team wants to get close this season and so far it looks like that is happening,” Renier said. 

The cross country team will be taking a trip to Waverly, Iowa for the first time this season. Usually the team goes to Marshfield, Wisconsin, but they decided to switch it up this year. “We will get a lot of new exposure to what cross country is like down there and I think it will be a lot of fun,” Niebergall said.