The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School men’s and women’s cross country teams have had a successful season thus far in the 2023-2024 school year. The season began on Aug. 21, and both teams immediately got to work and started training.
“The season is going great so far,” junior Morgan Melchiorri said. “Both teams have been working really hard and we have a great chance to go to states.”
Their most recent meet they competed in was on Thursday, Oct. 19 for the Broward County Championship at Markham Park. The meet was hosted by the county and the MSD team didn’t do their best, placing fifth overall.
“It wasn’t our best meet,” freshman Aurora Davis said. “We ran the best we could but we weren’t great. So we are going to train hard to win at districts and regionals.”
The team attends practice every day of the week in order to reach their goals for each upcoming meet. Within each practice, they participate in running around the campus to work distance running. In order to be victorious, team members run on a daily basis to withstand their stamina and increase their speed. Every single local meet they’ve had so far this year has been preparing them for districts and regionals towards the end of the season.
Both teams practice some mornings and almost every afternoon after school. Each practice pushes the runners to strive to get better and better every time.
Cross country meets have been hosted at Tradewinds Park, Markham Park and Quiet Waters Park. All have been after school at 4:30 pm. The next cross-country event is the district championships that will take place from Oct. 30 through Nov. 4 at Markham Park. The Eagles look forward to bringing home the winning title for MSD and advancing to the regional championships.
Regional championships are to be held on Nov. 8 at Burt Aaronson Regional Park, and soon after that, state championships are on Nov. 17 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.
“We are all really looking forward to regionals and states,” men’s captain Veer Kapoor states. “Every member of both teams has put so much time and effort into each meet, and I’m so proud of each and every one of them. I’m sad the season is coming to an end soon but I know we will end off on a good note and bring home the win.”
Overall, the MSD cross country teams are happy with their performance and look to continue training hard and improve their results with an end goal of a state championship in mind.