Girls cross country

Girls cross country: The girls cross country team finished their season 12-3 overall and 11-3 in the MAC Red. They finished third in their division and fourth in their region. With Birmingham Seaholm dominating their region this season, the team just looked to improve their record from last year and qualify for states for the 24th time in a row. Although they didn’t qualify for states, missing it by one spot, the team improved over last year’s 5-10 record.

Head coach Scott Cooper is still optimistic about the type of season the girls had and said they ran their hardest at practices and races.

“We individually had great finishes and times and many goals met. The girls worked hard all season,” Cooper said. “Why we did not make the goal of making it to the state finals had nothing to do with our effort or work. We did all that we could, but the competition was just a bit better. I could not have asked any more from my runners than what they gave me.”

Junior Madison Murray was one of the seven varsity runners. Injuries plagued her season, but she looks to bounce back her senior year and plans to put in the work this off season.

“I’ll run during the winter so I’m ready for the season, and I’ll go into track in the spring, so that will help me stayed conditioned,” Murray said. “I’ll put in more miles during the summer, and I’d like to be in the 21s by the end of next year.”

Cooper likes the perseverance this team showed this season by getting back on a winning side of their record, but knows that to continue their success, many of the girls will need to run year round.

“The girls have to run in the winter and put more meaningful miles in during the summer if we want to compete more with those teams ahead of us.”