Now that school is back in session, the fall sports teams are ready to put a long session of summer conditioning behind them and begin the regular season of competitions.

The cross country girls began their summer training on June
22 and have been working unremittingly. Meeting four to five days a week for two hours, Coach Scott Brooks and the team approached practice in several different ways to strengthen different aspects of a cross country race.

On distance days, the runners steadily increased their distances on runs minute by minute each day. Practicing running longer distances builds endurance and ensures a solid, quick result for three mile races. For other days of the week, the team took on other more challenging workouts by spending some time on the track or the hills to highlight the importance of training with short distances as well.

The groups repeatedly ran varying distances, such as 400 meter, 800 meter, or 1200 meter intervals, to better their times. “The people who ran
over the summer certainly have an advantage from an injury standpoint if they can continue to run in the offseason and stay in shape in the offseason,” Coach Brooks explained.

Coach Brooks is the head coach for the girls cross country team, along with Coach Greg Frey, who coaches the frosh-soph team. The coaching staff gained a new instructor this year with the addition of Coach Katie Pasky, who will coach the JV team. Coach Pasky ran for Coach Brooks when she attended Benet a decade ago.

With all of the hard work and dedication from the girls, there is bound to be success for the upcoming season. Thus far, the team has already made tremendous advances and shows no signs of stopping. “We had some good individual accomplishments last year, obviously with Clare [McCabe] getting down to state, but I think the kids are eager, and they’ve already put in good practices this first week,” said Coach Frey. “I think that we have some good leadership and role models as well on the varsity team, and I think they’re going to do a good job of representing Benet well this year.”