Cross country has experienced steady success in their season thus far. Freshman and sophomore (Frosh/Soph) boys have swept nearly every meet they have gone to, varsity boys took second place at league finals to Woodcreek high school this year and frosh soph and varsity girls are pulling from talent that hasn’t been seen in years.

Unlike other sports however, in which league competitions are an important prerequisite to moving on to the postseason, cross country looks at what happens after league to be totally separate from events during the season.

That being said, the team will have to stay focused, moving on to the postseason with the playing field equal yet again.

“We all really wanted to go to state and I think with having that focus we trained a little bit harder and we worked a little bit better together,” said senior Justin Johnson, a varsity boys runner for the team.

Unfortunately for the girls team, moving far into the postseason may be dependent on more than just having the right mindset.

“Right now, immediately, it’s going to depend on health. One of our top runners is sick and we had another runner get injured at league finals,” said coach Daniel Pereira.

As for the JV and varsity guys teams, hopes are high going into subsections and sections where going to state is a foreseeable possibility if all goes extremely well.

However, coach Pereira acknowledges that it will not be easy.

“To make it out of sections is going to be tough. I definitely think Bella Vista is ahead of us, and then all the other teams it’s just too close to call.”

One thing is certain though – the varsity boys have a very young team loaded with potential.

“Moving forward, we have a very young team. Our top five has three sophomores and two juniors, and they are all coming back next year,” says Pereira.

This, coupled with the fact that the dominant frosh soph boys team will soon pool into the varsity squad, means big changes for the future and hopes of going to the state meet.

“We have a young group this year so we didn’t do much mileage, but with the sophomore group moving to junior year, we are trying to build that mileage,” said Pereira, already developing the plan to raise what he hopes will be an exceptionally strong team in the years to come.

While both boys and girls cross country runners have been been building the program to unprecedented heights, even looking at the marvel of state competitions, the importance of staying focused in the present is not lost in the eyes of these athletes.