By Eli Glenn
Sports Editor
The future is bright for Hammonds cross country team. Although the team took a slight hit this year with the loss of some of their top runners from the previous season, the team looks to bounce back in a big way. “I feel like there are kids now freshman and sophomores who really have goals and are trying to be better,” said Junior Ayo Akindele, who is the fastest runner as only a Junior on the team.
The teams first meet was the Eagle Invitational at Centennial high school which had a packed house including 29 other schools who were participating. Ayo ran the best time, clocking in at 18:17 for his 5K. While this is impressive, the Captains PR actually sits at an astounding 17:41. Ayo’s time was followed by some solid performances put on by juniors Ethan Smith and Fortune Carolia, who ran a 22:29 and 22:41 5K respectively.
Cross country is much more than just competing in meets and the times you see posted to social media. Lots of hard work comes in through the countless hours devoted to training at practice.
Everyday, the practices start at 3:05 after school, and “It depends on what the coach wants, It starts with warm ups,” said Ayo Akinadele. These warm ups include things like static stretches which are stretches like toe touches, knees to chest ,and toe touches. Ayo added, “We’ll do a regular workout, easy run, or recovery depending on the day.” This is all in place to prioritize injury prevention and the importance of the runners’ health.
The first tri-meet for Hammonds Cross country team was Wednesday the 27th. The two other competing teams were Reservoir High School and Oakland Mills High School. In the boys 5K run Ayo finished second overall with a time of 17:41, he dropped 36 seconds from his most recent run previous which is almost unheard of.
Another impressive finish for Hammond was star studded freshman Trevor Miyagishima who finished 14th overall with a speedy time of 19:58. On the girls side Junior Eve Pimental took home the bronze, finishing 3rd overall with an impressive time of 22:28. Additionally, coming in with a strong 5th place finish was another young talent; freshman Beatrix Bergmann clocking in at a time of 23:39.
Though there have been challenges like losing seniors and a short staffed team, Hammonds Cross Country team looks to persevere and make their mark this year with new rising stars. This will be a great season that will go down in history as one to remember.
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