The new school year has begun which means the start of a new season for cross country.

“Cross country is a sport that not only provides a great community for high school students, It also is a place for students to learn just how good of a runner they can be,” said Matt Roach, coach of the girls cross country team.

“Many kids join cross country for different reasons, some join for the love of running, and others want a good community to feel apart of. Runners get what they put in, as long as someone is willing to work hard, they will get better,” Said Ted Faulhaber, coach of the boys cross country team.

Cross country runners have the opportunity to experience cool courses at both distances of 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) and 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) all over the St. Louis area at many different schools or even parks.

Freshmen are a big contribution to the cross country team and can often times being some of the best players on the team. This season, the girls team did not struggle with the number of freshmen to come in, but for the boys, the number of freshmen was quite low with only six freshmen to join.

“Carlos Medina and Jeffrey Ying are very good runners and are making a large contribution to the team,” Said Faulhaber.

The biggest contribution, though, comes from the returning players who already know all the courses and have past experiences with running. “Brett Davis and the Bode brothers have been some of the best players returning each year,” Said Faulhaber. “Katherine Franz, Tatiana Nowotny, and Julia Peiffer are very good returning players,” Says Coach Roach.

The Parkway Quad at Parkway Central was the first meet of this year. Both the Boys and Girls teams scored second behind Parkway West. There were many good runners who participated in this meet, one being a freshman on the boys team named Carlos Medina who scored fourth in the 4,000 meter run with a time of 18:39. Another runner who scored well who was on the girls team was Samantha VanEssendelft who also ran the 4,000 meter with a time of 20:54.

The next meet, which took place on Sept. 1st, was at Webster Groves. The boys scored 7th and the girls scored 12th. Even though the team did not perform their best , this meet helped runners find their strengths and weaknesses and how to improve for the next meet.

One of the biggest meets of the year is the Forest Park Cross Country Festival, where hundreds of runners all over the area compete in a variety of races, girls and boys. For many runners, this race is the most important of the entire season. This year the race took place on Sept. 10th, and both boys and girls score well. Both boys teams (varsity and junior varsity) competed in the 5,000 meter race. Varsity placed at 21st and junior varsity placed 13th. A key runner was junior Brett Davis, who scored 49th in the varsity 5,000 meter race. The girls teams participated in the 5,000 meter: gold, for varsity, and the 5,000 meter: white-gold, for junior varsity.  Both varsity and junior varsity placed 15th in their races, and a key runner was Katherine Franz, who scored 21st in the varsity 5,000 meter race. Overall, Parkway South scored pretty well.

Toward the end of the season is when players will end up performing their best. The more they run throughout the year, the easier it is for each runner to run better with longer distances.

“Overall, the team will end up performing better towards the end of the season due to the constant practicing they go through,” Said Roach.

“As long as the runner puts in the effort, he will see massive improvement by the end of the season,” Said Faulhaber.