A Look Into a Cross Country Runner

Girls cross country has started off the season stronger than ever. They have spent all summer training for the season. Many people do not know how much you have to put in and do for cross country the sport itself. Some of the girls cross country runners have shared their day in life during cross country season, and how it looks for them.

Sophomore Olivia Berger runs varsity for Cross Country while balancing out varsity Dance Team along with it. Olivia’s busy schedule starts right at 3:30, when she has cross country and dance team immediately after. Some days she will go to cross country practice then straight to her dance team practice. Leading up to her studio dance some nights being her third practice. She always stays committed to her sports and some days she wakes up early before school to do her cross country workouts on days she has to go straight to dance team practice after school. She is a great role model of being a multi-sport athlete and balancing two sports in the same season. Olivia explains that “Being in multiple sports can be really hard but remembering that each one will make me mentally and physically stronger as a person helps push me to try to be my best”.

Now, let’s go into a different day in the life from Junior Hayden Beyer’s perspective. Similarly to Olivia Berger, she balances being a multi sport athlete. After Hayden’s long school day, she drives over to Centennial for cross country practice. After her workout for cross country she goes over to the high school to weight lift with her team. Hayden balances soccer with cross country, so she has soccer practices often after cross country. She handles doing two sports in the fall season while still taking care of her body. While she also may have school work she manages to get the amount of sleep and nutrition she needs to keep her body healthy throughout her busy sports seasons. Hayden reveals that “A multiple sport athlete can come with hard challenges but it makes you stronger as a person”.

In addition, Senior Mallory Wurth’s typical meet day starts with eating a yogurt bowl for breakfast. Leading to packing her lunch and pre meet snacks before she goes to school. She focuses on making sure she drinks lots of water on meet days and is staying hydrated for her race. Normally, she has to leave school early for meets, so she heads out to the bus. While having one of her pre meet snacks on the bus. Once she gets to the meet she has some time to chill at the camp before starting warm ups. Later that night, after her meet she traditionally gets Jimmy Johns. Once she gets home it is a typical school night for her. As she usually has homework to do for the next day. Mallory shares “Even during cross country season school comes first, so I’ll always ask for school work ahead of time when I have to leave for a meet”. This is a look into Mallory’s typical meet day.

Overall, the day in the life of every runner is very different but each person makes it work for them. There is more behind the scenes in cross country than you may realize, with Sophomore Olivia Berger, Junior Hayden Beyer, and Senior Mallory Wurth being great examples of it.