The cross country team has been working to run faster times pulling inspiration and motivation from a variety of outlets.
Junior Jarrett Boyd, one of the runners that Varsity Coach Mr. Ed Shephard has been training, shared about his inspirations for running up to 3 miles every week, as well as practicing every day.
On Sept. 22, the team headed to Brush Creek to face Eden Christian and Vincentian academies. Boyd placed 1st for the boys team, and Senior Skylar Corfield was a top finisher for the girls.
The team then went against approximately 20 other teams at the annual Sharpsville Invitational with Boyd earning 17th place on Sept. 26.
“Dual meets are two teams going head to head, and invitational meets can sometimes be up to twenty teams.”Shephard said.
On Sept. 29, Freedom was against Avonworth, North Catholic and New Brighton high schools. Boyd took 1st place again and Corfield was 10th out of about 30 runners.
“New Brighton’s Brush Creek is a terrible course, it’s all uphill and in the woods, but I made it through,” Corfield said.
Oct. 3 was the Grove City Invitational and several teams from around Pennsylvania were in attendance. Boyd took 9th place, and the top finisher for the girls’ team was Sophomore Paige Velemirovich making a successful day that was worth the time and effort during practice.
“Probably one of the best things about the year are whenever you PR, which is your personal record because it’s great to see how much you improve throughout the year. I reached my personal goal at the 5k race at the homecoming festival this year.” Velemirovich said.
Velemirovich received 2nd in her age group at the event hosted at Freedom Area High School on Oct. 10.
On Oct. 6, the team was up against Sewickley Academy and Our Lady of Sacred Heart High School. Sophomore Austin Schroeder and Corfield were top finishers.
“With a smaller team, dual meets are tough because you can’t be competitive when you have such a small group. At invitationals, you get a lot of competition. They aren’t pushed enough in the dual meet, but they can get competition to prepare for the end of the season by multiple schools being together with more top runners to compete against.” Shephard said.
The MAC Championships were held on Oct. 15 at Brush Creek. 24 teams came to represent their school and take home a win for their respective team. Boyd finished in 6th place and Corfield was 52nd place out of 122 runners.
“Even though we were a small team our efforts proved big,” Freshman Myla Sharpless said.
Individual improvement has been the main goal for all members of the team, due to the nature of cross country as a competitive sport.
“They’ve understood that the team is small, and that keeps us from winning things as a team, but they’ve been focused on their individual achievement and improvement. I’ve seen hard work throughout the year,” Shephard said.
Many runners have gained self-gratification from reaching or exceeding their personal goal.“I met my personal goal for this year by at least a minute. I really wish I would’ve done it [cross country] earlier.” Corfield said.
Overall, Shephard is pleased with their efforts throughout the season. From reaching personal goals, to 1st place wins, their training and dedication to the sport has been an asset to their success.
“Individually, we’ve seen a lot of improvement from all of our runners. They’ve all worked hard,” Shephard said.
Next year Cross Country hopes to grow even more and gain recognition as a team. This year, they will compete at WPIAL tournament and will have a chance to attend the PIAA state tournament.
“To go to WPIALS every team gets to enter seven runners so we’ll be able to do that and everyone will be able to compete at WPIALS. To go to states, it’s based on finishing in either the top three teams or the top three individuals. Jarrett Boyd has a really good chance of qualifying.” Shephard said.