“And they’re off” girls cross country team is running into valuable lessons
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY TAKING BIG STRIDES TO SUCCESS: girls cross country team learning valuable lessons. Photo via https://pxhere.com/en/photo/879687 under the Creative Commons License.
May 22, 2018
WMS girls cross country team competed on May 9th, unfortunately, they lost by four points to Avenel. But Mr. Salinas thinks this is just one of the learning experiences every team has to go through.
After the meet, Mr. Salinas said, “ We did very well.” This was the experience they needed to go on to improve throughout the season. Mr. Salinas explained, “I think that our girls will do better next meet because they have gained more experience in running competitively.” Mr. Salinas also thinks that the “mental” preparation will be more important than the “physical”.
They lost 31-26 to Avenel, and in cross country the team with the lower score wins. Maameyaa Nyinah won first place in overall, but cross country is more about the team, not if an individual finishes first. People who stood out in the meet were Maameyaa Nyinah and Kiana Medina.
Cross country inspires Nyinah because she said, “It’s peaceful and its a way of getting in shape.” Nyinah emphasizes more on the effort than the outcome as she says, just “trying” and never “giving up” prepares her for the meets. She thinks the team just needs to train harder to prepare for the next meet.
Kiana Medina thinks it’s more mental than physical for her when she runs. Medina said, “I picture myself crossing the finish line” this is how she prepares mentally for the meets, she visualizes. One physical activity she does before meets, is stretching. Medina finds enjoyment and fun through all of this and thats what inspires her to run for the Woodbridge Middle School cross country team.
Before the meet, Mr. Salinas, cross country coach, says “We’ve been working on building stamina while maintaining a fun atmosphere for this upcoming season because we have inexperienced runners.” Mr. Salinas believes that there strengths this year is having a lot of “fun” and building “good relationships”. This year will be fun for the girls as they take on challenges on the dates, May 9th, May 23rd, May 29, and June 6th which is the championship. Make sure you go out to support them as well.
