The Boys Cross Country team has always been a dominant team at Oakdale throughout the years. They have won countless championships, being 4x Conference and 3x Regional champions. This year, more boys have shown interest in the team, and have been putting in the work to be able to face the numerous challenges that come with running. Now, they are looking to get another Regional win.

Zachary Lesieur, who is the coach for the team, has been coaching for 4 years and currently teaches College and Career prep, Health 1, and Personal Finance. As a coach, he comes up with the workouts for the runners, advises when to rest and seek treatment for an injury, and helps athletes set and achieve their goals. His passion for running is why he loves to coach. “I just always loved the sport,” Lesieur states, “and it’s a way to still be involved in the sport competitively while being kind of hands on with the love of running.”

When asked about the team, he explained that he has seen some progress in all of the runners. “Overall I have seen progress in pretty much everybody’s fitness level, which hopefully we’ll see some of the result of that in the upcoming meet,” added Lesieur. 

Moving forward, he hopes to see runners build off from wherever they started and stay focused during practices, especially since championship season is around the corner. When it comes to Regionals, Lesieur wants the runners to keep their eyes on the prize and represent our team. “Oakdale has always been successful in running, whether it was cross country or track, so it’s all about holding on to that legacy,” he added on.

Lesieur also highlights the importance of building mental and physical strength when it comes to running, and how running can be a difficult sport due to these aspects: “In racing, 75% is mental, and the other 25% is having the speed and endurance and putting it together. But even if you have the speed and endurance and you aren’t mentally prepared, your mind is not going to be able to push beyond the physical pain.” He noted: “What I can say is that running is a difficult sport. It takes both a mental and physical aspect, which means you’re asking your body to do something new every time you compete.”

Sam Skinner is a senior, team captain, and runner who has been running since 6th grade, but didn’t start taking it seriously until freshman year, where he fell in love with cross country. His family was his main inspiration when it came to running: “Everyone in my family used to be big runners in high school,” he mentioned. “My granddad, my aunt, and my mom did cross country. My cousins also did it, so I was just like ‘Let me sign up for cross country’ and then I enjoyed it.”

Running is a very important sport to Skinner, since it “de-stresses” him and helps him forget about the stuff he’s worried about, like college and school. “I can just go and run, and you don’t have time to think about it that much because your legs hurt,” he expressed. 

But even though Sam loves to run, he believes that the hardest part of running is doing your best in races. “I know practices sometimes can be 10 times harder than the races,” he affirmed, “but having to get on the line is nerve wracking.”

When asked about the team, he voiced: “We got a good group this year. Everyone is very supportive of each other, and everyone’s pushing each other.” Sam’s main advice for the runners going into Regionals is to be confident and to maintain what you have already worked hard for. He also expresses the importance of eating food, staying hydrated, and getting a good amount of sleep.

Although there is added pressure to the runners to perform their best, the pressure isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Both Coach Lesieur and Sam mention that there’s such a thing as good and bad pressure, and that runners should rely on good pressure to reach their goals. Overall, the boys are looking forward to starting back up their journey to becoming great runners , and hopefully the new runners will achieve many of their goals by the end of the season.