“On your mark runners…” The air pauses for a moment before the resounding pop of the starting gun goes off, and a thunder of footsteps follow in its echo.
Eastern’s boy’s and girl’s cross country teams both competed today at the OK Gold Conference Championship, taking place at Riverside Park. Running against seven other schools from the area, Eastern came out with spectacular results in both the boy’s varsity and J.V. team, placing first in both events. Henry Dixon (’25), the winner of the boy’s varsity event, shared his excitement with the results of today’s race, explaining, “At the past two conference meets, Liam Walters — a runner from a different school — was the winner of those, but [today] I beat him, so I was pretty happy about that.” Henry finished his 5,000 meter event with a time of 15:43:57.
Mr. Mac, the coach of both cross country teams expressed similar sentiments about the season and the teams progress. He praised the runners for the hard work they have put in during their off-season, and seemed optimistic about Eastern’s chances at the next meet, the state championship. Mr. Mac stated, “So far it’s been an incredibly successful season. Tonight was a successful night, [as we] finished as Conference champions, [with] a whole bunch of all conference guys. Because of all the work they’ve put in they’ve been able to reach the goals they set for themselves, and hopefully we can continue those results at the next meet.”
The girl’s varsity and J.V. teams also ended with impressive results, with the girl’s varsity team placing third, just five points behind South Christian. Although the results were not what they hoped for, the runners remained enthusiastic with the progress they have made this past season through their practices. Many of the girls on the team are new this year, meaning that the Eastern team has plenty of room to continue to grow and progress throughout the year until next season.
Aside from running, many of the runners believe their favorite moments to be off the course and instead with the team. Addison Washler (’24), has been on the cross country team all four-years of high school and placed third in today’s girl’s varsity event. She described the love she has for her teammates and the sadness of it being her last cross country season, explaining how, “It’s really sad because I’ve made a lot of my best friends in cross country.” Many teammates share a similar view, explaining how cross country isn’t merely a team, it’s a family.
With the season beginning to wrap up, Eastern will compete next on November 4 at South Christian for the State Championship. Make sure to cheer on the Hawks as they’ll race off in a few weeks to compete for a state title.
