Throughout the entirety of their season, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School cross country team fought constantly to make their presence known. They had a strong season and were eager to make it far in the playoffs.

To qualify for regionals, the Eagles had to make it past districts. The meet was on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at Markham Park in Weston. The Eagles narrowly made the cut by placing sixth out of 13 schools to qualify for regionals. The team had great momentum moving into regionals and had high hopes to make it to states.

On Oct. 28, the Eagles ran an early morning race at South County Regional Park in Boca Raton. Each athlete runs a five-kilometer race which is about 3.1 miles. MSD needed to be in the top eight to advance to states.

Unfortunately, the Eagles’ season ended after placing 13th out of 16 schools and in the middle 50% of all athletes. The highest placing runner for MSD was sophomore Coby Alhadeff with a time of 18:23.0. He got 50th place out of 114 overall.

Successfully, on the women’s team, junior Ella Schawartz made it past regionals to advance to states. She placed 16th with a time of 21:19.6. She was the only runner on the women’s team to advance. States are in Tallahassee on Friday, Nov. 4.

The team that achieved first place was Christopher Columbus High School in Miami with a score of 35. MSD achieved a score of 333.

“My performance was pretty good, I wish that I hit my peak earlier in the season,” senior Quinn McCluskey said.

The season for MSD is over but they have many underclassmen on the team that are eager to improve their skills.

“We have great runners that aren’t in their best years yet, the future’s looking bright,” senior Tevye Singh said.

Seniors and captains of the cross country team, Tevye Singh, Andres Abreu, and Quinn McCluskey had a bittersweet moment with their senior season ending, but they have high hopes for the future.

“Although I’m sad about the cross country season ending, I had fun and will come out of it with great memories,” Abreu said. “I’m looking forward to the upcoming track season and going to college. Hopefully, I can run track in college, but first I’m looking to give it my all this season.”

Most athletes that run track and field also run cross country to stay conditioned and prepared for the spring. They continue to practice and improve from the end of cross country and through the winter to be the most prepared. Track and field is very important to the cross country captains and they want to make this upcoming season the best yet.

“I want to run track this year and enjoy my time until I go to college,” McCluskey said.

Although the cross country team came up short this year, they had a good season and are in good hands for next year and many years to come.