Cross country is a sport that involves lots of endurance and dedication and that can be challenging for freshmen. The transition from middle school to high school can be a big challenge when fresh out of middle school. A freshman’s first thought is tryouts and going through the mindset of how everyone’s skills will determine which team they are placed on, whether it’s freshman, JV or the varsity team. A lot of hard work from freshmen is put into wanting to make the varsity team.
“It was a little intimidating at first, but I was like ‘I earned my spot here’ so I was gonna go out and run my race to my best,” freshman Katie Head said.
Being a freshman on varsity can be nerveracking. Not only skill-wise, but being the youngest on the team. It involves a lot of good skills to be on the varsity team. Being on varsity adds a lot of pressure when playing or competing against upperclassmen. The upperclassmen on the team often give advice to relieve a lot of the pressure the freshman have.
“The best thing the upperclassmen have said to me was calming down before the races because I get freaked out right before a race and they are like you ‘got to calm down and breathe’,” Head said.
The goals and accomplishments of freshmen are always building towards making that varsity team. In making this happen, there are no shortcuts to making the team. It involves a lot of training and time to be at that level at a younger age.
“My biggest accomplishment was my first race,” Head said. “I ran with JV and I had a personal record of 21:58 and got second place in that JV race. That is what got me pulled up and [I] accomplished running on the varsity team.”