“Only one of our top 15 girl runners graduated last year, so what we’ve got is a whole lot of experience and talent,” Flatow said glancing at the team while they were warming up for practice.
Flatow is also looking forward to the upcoming season because many team members have continued to train and improve their performance from last season.
“I think they re-dedicated themselves—they were in the top 15 teams at CCS last year and now they’re back and motivated, so I think they’ll do really well,” Flatow said. “We have a really good senior group and also lots of younger talent and runners from almost every grade.”
The cross country team benefits this year because of the members’ wide range of ages. Although freshman Aayush Jain is new to the team, he is eager to experience improve his running. Though the transition from middle school to high school sports may seem difficult to some, Jain says that the main difference to him is the amount of running involved.
“I’m sort of excited because I’ve never done high school cross country before, only middle school, but I really want to make Varsity, so I’m excited,” he said.
On the flipside, senior Sunny Shan is preparing to impress her future college coach. “I recently got recruited and I’m going to practice there later this year, so I hope that I can stay fit and impress them,” Shan said.
As for prospective running stars, Flatow finds that, only one week into the season, it may be too early to put the spotlight on specific runners Instead, he is focusing on the overall team.
Because of new CCS regulations, the team was unable to practice together much over the summer. In order to prepare for the new season, many runners practiced hard throughout summer, including Shan. Although she visited Washington D.C. for a majority of her summer, she continued to train by running six to seven miles daily and going to the gym. While others ran closer to home in hopes to prepare themselves for the rigorous season, the team as a whole feels confident towards the upcoming season.
Flatow looks to the team once again as he adds, “I think MVHS will have a pretty fantastic 2013 season.”
