As the school year starts, our St. Petersburg High School athletes run again. Last year, the Green Devils’ cross-country team was quite successful, with our girls’ team reaching states and the boys to regionals. We hope this year will end in the same celebratory fashion. Our cross-country runners started the season strong at the Little Pirate meet and the Jim Ryun Invitational meet. In the Jim Ryun Invitational, new and returning girl athletes raced well, giving them excellent scores and 6th place overall. Meg Doolittle received 10th place with a time of 22:06 minutes, while Nickolas Forbes finished in 20th place with a time of 18:10 minutes. Also, congratulations to Brayden Andringa for his run of 3rd place at the Little Pirate Invitational.

These times were not luck, though. The team has been conditioning for months and holding official practices five days a week since the beginning of the year. Their hard work has strengthened their skills, thanks to the new head coaches, Jon Trunk, and Riley Dunn. Last year, Jessica Miller stepped down from head coach to assistant coach for the boys’ and girls’ teams after six years of coaching the team.

This year, the boys’ captains include Avery Reynolds, Caiden Schuller, and Nickolas Forbes. Maya Matheney, Pilar Tenore, and Avery Lazzara are the girls’ captains. In speaking with them about their experiences on the team as captains, Avery Lazzara quoted Ashley Eagan, an alumni captain, saying that the most important thing to remember when racing is that “you’re already in pain, so you might as well make it worth it.” You might say “such wise words” for a senior in high school, but Avery has been a captain for two years now. She is well-versed in the sport and how to run a team on and off the course. No matter how well or how fast you run, the most important thing about the sport is your team. Pilar Tenore says she loves “how much of a community… it is”. She says that “runners are such genuine and nice people to be around.”

As every race comes to a close, so does every season, and we hope this season will be successful for our SPHS cross-country team. Congratulations on your successes so far, and we hope to see many more.