By Richard Byrd
With the regular season coming to a close and the postseason on the horizon, the team has experienced its ups and downs. Led by Thomas McManuels, the team is undergoing a massive rebuild overall, especially with the girls’ cross country team. The journalism team made our way to ask Coach Thomas McManuels a myriad of questions in order to gain better insight into our cross country team.
When asked who he has seen step up as a leader on the team, Coach said,
“In terms of underclassmen stepping up as a leader, I’ve been impressed with sophomore Jude, and I depend on Logan.”
When asked who he is expecting to do well at the regional championship
“Trevor is expected to do well; he’s the defending state champion.
But when asked about improvement, he was asked
“The entire boys varsity team, since how much they improved from last year. With the girls, it’s a lot of freshmen, and we’re just trying to establish a benchmark.
When asked if there would be any girls at the top like Trevor, one freshman was brought up almost instantly
“Right now, freshmen Anastasia Beyene and Nyla Jordan.”
So then the Journalism Team asked the senior state champion a couple questions since it’s his last year at Hammond.
Next, the journalism team asked a freshman Anastasia how long she’s been running. Seemingly, she appears to be one of the inexperienced runners, this being her 5th month running, starting in June. Even with such a late start, she’s already on Coach’s radar for leading the team in the future.
Afterwards, we asked what she can improve on and what will help your progression.
She answered by saying
“I want to improve my times for the 5k and 2-mile race. I can improve it by working harder in practice and not slacking off and properly fueling my body”
Finally, the Journalism Team asked freshman Anastasia;
‘What advice would you give to the freshman after you since your season is almost over?’
“Try your best during races and put in the work during practices cause it pays off, while also not being too hard on urself and trying your best”
After interviewing a freshman, the Journalism team went to interview a sophomore who was just a freshman. Jude, an upcoming cross country runner, was introduced by his coach, Thomas McManuels.
The team’s first question for Jude was;
‘How do you think you’ve improved since freshman year’
“I think it’s been a lot of mental improvement and getting ahead in the right place”
They then asked Jude;
‘What do you think has helped you improve from the off season to contribute to this season?’
“I’ve learned a lot about my team and where I need to be, and I was scared about just going into the race. The people that helped you develop the strength were people like Trevor, Mattew, and Ethan”
Finally, the team asked Jude;
‘What advice would you give to the current freshman after the season so they’ll be prepared for their sophomore year?’
“The first few races are gonna be rough, but I promise if you push through them you’re gonna have a good year and enjoy running”
The last person the Journalism Team interviewed was Trevor Miyagishima, and they asked him;
‘With your last season as a senior being this year, what advice would you give to the underclassmen’
“Believe in yourself, and it’s what the upperclassmen when I was younger told me, and the most important thing is having the faith you can perform the best at ur ability even when ur deep down in ur suffering and knowing you can trust urself and ur teamates are there for you while you’re there from them”
Then after, they asked him;
‘What if you wanna see for yourself these upcoming states and regionals?’
“I wanna go out there and be able to say after the race I ran the best of my ability, and my ultimate goal is to be the best version of myself, and if someone beats me, oh well, I will see them during indoor and outdoor seasons of track”
Finally, they asked him;
‘What was your favorite part of being here at Hammond High as a cross country runner?’
“I would say my freshman year and being part of such a unique team culture for the first time; I felt connected and part of a family. I grew up playing baseball and basketball, and I just never felt a real connection with my teammates, but in cross country we goof off, support each other through ups and downs, and even if things didn’t go well, we stuck with each other. And being able to go on runs.”
When asked if he thought the team was a family, he smiled and said yes.
