by Ashley Roof
courtesy photo.
BHS cross country team starting off the race at Brevard College
Brevard’s cross country team never stops.
Cross country is a sport in which teams and individuals race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course is typically 3.1 miles long, or 5 kilometers. It may include grass, woodland, open country, hills, flat ground and gravel.
Team members agree that running is 75 percent mental and 25 percent physical effort. Aly Pagano, senior, said the Art Loeb is by far the most mentally and physically challenging trail she has ever attempted. It goes directly to the parkway, but she has never made it that far. Pagano describes racing as a wall she has to climb. On the other side of it, she tells herself that “stopping or slowing down is not even an option”. She said she became “almost a machine at that point”. It’s right there that she stops remembering the race, so at the end, when she thinks back, she does not remember landmarks or mile markers.
Eliza Witherspoon said she joined the team because she has a “passion for running and wants to be a part of a program that has a bright future”. Witherspoon’s goal is to always to improve her time and place.
The team has changed a over the past 4 years, from a large to a smaller team. After some growth, 11 girls currently run on the team.
Jackie Witherspoon, the coach of the girls’ team is very pleased about how many girls have committed this year.
Witherspoon said that the team they have right now is “going to go far, especially with most of them being sophomores and freshmen”.