The Marjory Stoneman Douglas men’s cross country season started Wednesday, Aug. 31, and they are looking forward to further their success on and off the field. Captains and seniors of the cross country team, Tevye Singh, Quinn McClusky and Andres Abreu, have worked together to rally the team and always keep a positive attitude at all times.

The seniors have all been on the cross country team since their freshman year, and they are now in charge of leading and keeping the team prepared for the future after they graduate.

The captains lead workouts and help athletes who are new to cross country. Many underclassmen view the captains as role models and who they aspire to be in the upcoming seasons.

The cross country team practices at MSD and Liberty Park. Most athletes started conditioning on their own during the summer to prepare for the season. They practice after school for two hours, where the athletes tune their skills and get ready for individual meets.

“I prepared for the season by putting in work during the summer. It was awesome to have a few teammates there to push me,” Singh said.

Teamwork and cooperation is a result of the cross country team’s hard work and determination to further improve themselves. In order to stay in shape over the summer, most athletes have vigorous routines to constantly improve.

“We would condition four to five days a week by running distance, doing sprints and core work,” McClusky said.

The meets are formatted by having multiple teams from other schools in the district come together to compete in many different events. Each athlete favors a certain competition they would like to do.

The meets have been at Markham Park in Weston and Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek.

The beginning of the season started rough. During the first meet, which took place on Wednesday, Aug. 31, at Markham Park, the highest placing athlete in the 5000 meter race was freshman Cole Spinks who placed 18th.

The team regrouped and battled back in the next meet at Tradewinds Park to get second place by one point to Coral Springs High.

Their third meet was Tuesday, September 13, at Markham Park, in which MSD placed in the middle.

The captains know the strength of the team and the ability they will be able to achieve later in the season and in the future years.

“Our team is strong,” Abreu said. “We all need to sharpen our skills together but we have a chance at states”.

Most athletes on the cross country team use this season to prepare themselves for the track season in the spring.

“During the summer, I ran AAU track and did many long runs,” Abreu said.

Abreu and the other captains and runners constantly worked at achieving personal records and getting noticed by potential universities. This is the end goal for many of the athletes on the team who want to commit to a school and run for them.

Even if the end goal isn’t achieved, the cross country team enjoys what they do and makes sure having a good time is prioritized.

The captains of the team lead and advise the runners, and their leadership is a factor in their performance this season.

The MSD cross country team is full of hard work and determination that they plan to use during their efforts to reach the state championship this year, as well as giving them the potential to be great in the seasons after.