The girls cross country team is one of many sports offered at Oakdale High School. Head coach, Brian Dempsey, and the determined team of girls have been putting forward their A-game during both practices and meets this season.

Many say running is 10% physical and 90% mental. Junior Alaina Etter agrees with the statement and mentions how she “loves running, so some days are more difficult than others, but not really focusing on the ‘pain’ helps me get through it.” 

Etter enjoys how accomplished she feels after a day at practice or a meet, as she feels the satisfaction of being able to push herself. As a former field hockey player, she understands that running is a fundamental skill in all sports.

Not only that, this year’s runners describe team chemistry as “stronger than ever.” Sophomore Emily Keefer joined the team as a freshman who was just looking to do a sport in high school, but soon realized she loved everything about the team. Keefer claims that cross country is a “positive environment because I feel like we are very like ‘lifting each other up’ type people and everyone is willing to push each other and make each other better.” Keefer appreciates how much all of the members care for and love each other, no matter how hard things get.

However, Etter adds on, expressing how not everything about cross-country is great, a typical practice for the team is “Pretty hard depending on what training we are put in, but definitely after school days, I feel like it’s hard to jump right into the running.” 

She continues, “It’s definitely not easy but I know that it’s definitely not for everyone, especially since it’s [running on] hills and you are running for a long time. We run almost 4 miles every day, and if you’re not used to that, then it’s probably not your best bet.” Without a strong mindset, Etter claims, you are making it harder on yourself to get through any day of running.

Given the intense work the girls put into practice, meet days become a little bit easier to handle. Keefer says, “The bus ride to the meet is really quiet; I feel like no one talks and everyone is just getting in the mindset.”

Adding on, Etter talks about the meets themselves and mentions, “Once we get there, you can tell when varsity has to run because the vibes are so intense and everyone gets in the running mindset.” 

Keefer finishes with, The bus ride back is like lit especially if we do really good at the meet.”

Continuing on, Coach Dempsey is thrilled to see what these girls have to offer. He has been a track and field coach for 39 years, as he loves the sport and ran track in college. Coach Dempsey says he has been coaching “a couple of girls since their freshman year. We have to finish this together.” He is excited to see how everyone improves throughout the years in high school.

Looking at the season so far, it is evident that the girls are fierce and can run through anything. With them placing in the top 10 to 20 in almost every meet that they run in, we wish them good luck for the upcoming weeks with counties and more.