The South Windsor High School’s boy’s cross country team has made an outstanding start to the season with practices running from summer until now.
For many on the team, practice started the week before school. However, for others, it started way earlier, with optional summer practices during July and early August.
In these early practices, many of the newer team members were able to learn the course and adapt for the upcoming season. A week before school’s official practices started, everyone on the team put in their all. The first meet of the season was held early on into the school year on September 2nd.
To help team members run outside of official practice over the weekends, Luca Corticelli, a Junior and a three year member of the team, hosts optional practices on Sundays, where, at the end of practice, teammates enjoy a dessert like brownies or cookies.
“I do Sunday practices to make everyone feel accomplished after runs and so we feel more united as a team,” Corticelli said. “These practices are more than practices; it’s about making friends.”
Practices paid off, making the Boy’s Cross Country team stronger than years before, with Boy’s XC Coach Peter Anthony saying, “We didn’t have many guys break 20 [minutes] last year, we had 7 in 1 meet. So it helps that they ran something over the summer.”
The first meet of the season was held at Wickham Park against Manchester and RHAM. The course’s challenge included winding trails that travelled in and out of the forest, through some of Wickham Park’s many gardens, and past the Aviary. The course also included the largest hill at Wickham Park, known by cross country runners as “The Green Monster”, which provided a major challenge for the runners.
Despite the challenging hill, the excitement of the runners was visible as they ran the first race of the season. South Windsor went out strong, and their weeks of hard work paid off as they were able to attack the Green Monster and stay strong throughout the course. At the finish line, the Boys Cross Country team secured the first victory of the season, beating both Manchester and RHAM.
After the boys’ first victory, the team celebrated at their Dairy Queen fundraiser the next night. The fundraiser supports the cross country booster club, which puts on fun events for the team such as practices at Foster Farm and the Harry Geraghty Invitational. The team had a fun night full of ice cream and food, and raised a total of $4,100 for the booster club.
Boys Cross Country ran 2 additional meets in the following weeks, with varying results. Coach Peter Anthony continues to motivate his runners with more than just results, saying, “If we compete and we’re in the top, then we’re in the top, if we’re not we’re not, you know? As long as we’re working hard.”
From the challenging practices and meets to the celebration at Dairy Queen, Boy’s Cross Country has had an exciting opening month filled with fun and hard work, as they look forward to a great season.
