Cross Country has been back at Lincoln-Way, but only this month have they started competing – their first overnight meet being this past Saturday on September 17th.  Of course, being a new season also brings in new members such as Olivia Smulders. She is new to not just Lincoln-Way Central, but also Cross Country. Olivia states, “Cross country really helped me meet new people and get new information on the new school. I would definitely say that getting into Cross Country was an amazing idea because a lot of them [the team] are older, so you can ask questions about school and then you also have friends before school! It also helped me be more active and get out any emotions I might have.” Being new to a sport can obviously be nerve-wracking but, as Olivia said, the team helped make a comfortable adjustment to it. 

Helping newcomers is not the only thing Cross Country is good at, which is evident when looking at their stats. They’ve won first place at the Joliet Central Invitational with 54 points. The runners also scored 8th during a Plainfield Central Invite with a total of an impressive 173 points. Their most recent meet, mentioned previously in the article, also landed them 21st out of 57 other teams. Some highlights from that meet being Ruby Hillegass at 19:35.9. Between her and 5th place, Ella Maldonado at 20:03.0, there had been a 27-second spread.  

With their upcoming meets on the horizon, the school wishes the best of luck to the girls. With their track record, it’s obvious that they’ll do just as well as they have been doing already.