In light of the new school season, sports are returning in which one being cross country. 

Cross Country is one of the few sports at Manhattan High that doesn’t involve a ball. It is strictly running long distance in the fastest time. The team with the least amount of time wins. 

Some ways that students have been preparing over this summer is by running every day to help decrease their over all time.

“I’ve gone to the summer cross country conditioning,” sophomore Max Bowyer said. “I also have worked out with some other friends that run too.”

Since this is a new season, there are new goals that have been brought up in order to not only decrease their over all time, but make it to State at the end of the season.

“I’m most looking forward to running with the new freshmen and working hard to help my team win state,” Bowyer said. “I would like to run on the varsity team, run a sub 17:30 5k time, work hard and help encourage my teammates to try their hardest all the time.”

Some of the ways that the runners plan on helping out their team with representation is by showing determination and achieving goals. Cross Country is all about improving the overall score each time to help your team out. The runners plan to encourage each other each step of the way, no matter how difficult it may be.

Cross Country is a popular sport due to the fact that there are no tryouts. Everyone is free to be on the team. As long as there is commitment and determination within each of the runners.

Practices will normally be after school everyday. Meets will usually happen on Saturdays, early in the morning. 

“I don’t really know what to expect other than that I know my team and I are going to try our best to better ourselves each and every day,” Bowyer said.