The cross country teams will compete at the 3A District 20 meet on October 26 at the FHS cross country course. The team gained many freshman members this year. They have been steadily preparing for the district meet and amassed many medals on the way. 

“This coming district meet will be awesome,” freshman Emma Jo Smith said. “We’ve worked so hard for this and I know we will do well.”

Both the boys and girls teams placed first in their last invitational meet at Teague. For the boys, the places were freshman Eli Castillo 1st, junior Landen Espinoza 4th, junior Devin Six 7th, junior Nick Salazar 8th, freshman Samuel Webb Rivera 10th and freshman Ethan Walker 20th. For the girls, the places were freshman Madox Mitchael 1st, junior Jarahle Daniels 3rd, sophomore Jacey Jones 5th, freshman Lillian McBean 6th, sophomore Arly Salazar 7th, sophomore Emily Leatherman 13th and junior Michelle Castillo 15th

“COVID-19 has affected this season a lot,” Smith said. “Our team has been very cautious and are always wearing our masks when needed.”

The pandemic has placed many restrictions on this cross country season. The team is limited to only going against a certain number of schools at a time rather than the usual 20 schools. 

“I didn’t expect to win medals at all,”  McBean said. “I thought since I was a freshman I would get beat by all the upperclassmen.”

McBean is one of the many freshman runners who have placed in the past 7 meets. Despite the current situation, the team has been able to consistently progress each time.

“My team is the people who motivated me the most.” McBean said.  “I know if we all try our hardest we’ll do well.”