It’s the summer of 2022, my forehead is dripping of sweat and my teammates and I had just finished our 6 mile run.  This entire summer we were focused on success going into the upcoming cross country season. This success consisted of winning our League championship.  Last season, due to a combination of injuries and a small roster, we were unable to see our team on the school banner in the gymnasium.  With similar goes in mind, we made it our goal to have not just better training, but training that consisted of consistency and focus.  Six days a week we would meet at the track to run miles and get to bond with one another.

Fast forward to the day before the league championship, our team is sitting in a circle surrounding our coach.  In our hands are packets with the exact positions we would need to place in order to beat our rivals Somers.  This year, the league championship would be as competitive as it could possibly get.  For half an hour our team was discussing all the in and outs as to how we could accomplish our goal.  The veterans gave some motivation and everyone insisted that we would get good sleep the day prior to the race.

With all the hard days of practice, and essential focus our team won the league championship, and only by a point.  Our top runners placed high as expected but it was the effort of the backend that brung us to victory.  One of our veterans, had one of his best races of his career, and our last placing runner competed to the line to place ahead of an opponent by the smallest margin.  With hard work and one goal in mind our team was able to place ourselves into a position for success.