Over the course of the past three months, Amherst High School’s cross country team has trained daily and competed against multiple schools at various meets, experiencing a variety of wins with both team and individual successes.
Overall, the girls half of the team has had an average team improvement of 2 minutes and 32 seconds, with the guys team dropping a minute and 50 seconds averaged over the season. With everyone on the team slowly improving, they are gearing towards getting ready for conference on Oct 16, and sectionals on Oct 24. Running consistently and improving as often as the team has been doing this year is difficult and requires hours of dedicated daily work only to get a few seconds faster in a race. Runners have been dropping minutes easily and everyone has gotten at least one lifetime best throughout the season.
The team has been trying out and continuing traditions to improve sportsmanship and camaraderie between teammates. One such tradition is “buddynotes,” an encouraging note system between the middle school team and the high school girls’ team. In these notes are usually tips for the course, encouragement to do well for the middle schoolers and sometimes a bit of candy to help them after their race. Something new that started last year is a secret santa-esque trade off, so far they have done a sock-based theme and a T-shirt based one. Team meals are also something that has helped include upper and lower classmen into the team. There are so many other things that have helped to encourage goodwill amongst teammates.
With off campus practices and consistent games incorporated into some of the workouts, the cross country team has turned what is the punishment for most sports into a well-built team that is tight knit and works with others to help each other succeed. Cross country helps students stay in shape and gain healthy habits that will last well past the graduation of their high school career. The team at Amherst has done so well and hopes to see you either this or next season to cheer them on and watch them improve as much as they have so far.
| Runner | Start of Season | Most Recent PR | Improvement (min:sec) |
| Ava Lansing | 24:54.90 | 23:34.12 | 1:20.78 |
| Kasey Werachowski | 25:46.90 | 22:40.2 | 3:06.7 |
| Claire McKenzie | 27:31.80 | 26:34.41 | 0:57.39 |
| Lila McGuire | 27:21.70 | 24:57.5 | 2:24.2 |
| Ellie Laws | 22:38.40 | 21:21.1 | 1:17.3 |
| Ila Culver | 24:33.71 | 22:45.3 | 1:48.41 |
| Ava Krebsbach | 27:17.70 | 24:09.4 | 3:08.3 |
| Lily Passwaters | 30:18.10 | 27:13.95 | 3:04.15 |
| Hannah Rekowski | 25:46.60 | 23:36.45 | 2:10.15 |
| Madison Gough | 30:19.90 | 26:49.15 | 3:30.75 |
| Claire Weisman | 27:23.70 | 25:33.7 | 1:50.0 |
| Jozlyn Stuczynski | 31:21.00 | 27:26.25 | 3:54.75 |
| Olive Impullitti | 32:42.60 | 30:03.2 | 2:39.4 |
| EvaLee Cole | 29:27.40 | 25:49.0 | 3:38.4 |
| Elena Blasquez | 32:25.80 | 28:35.5 | 3:50.3 |
| Madison Rekowski | 28:47.30 | 26:56.3 | 1:51.0 |
Average team improvement: 2:32
| Runner | Start of Season | Most Recent PR | Time Difference (Improvement) |
| Elliot Podeszwa | 18:41.50 | 17:52.5 | 0:49.0 |
| Morgan Brown | 19:40.90 | 17:57.38 | 1:43.52 |
| Tanner Fletcher | 25:08.00 | 23:19.7 | 1:48.3 |
| Deqlund Waltenberg | 19:59.40 | 18:45.9 | 1:13.5 |
| Andrew Brimhall | 23:22.10 | 20:35.14 | 2:46.96 |
| Solomon Towne | 21:12.7 | 17:55.1 | 3:17.6 |
| Erick Gunther | 19:35.00 | 18:19.7 | 1:15.3 |
| Owen Wiesman | 20:24.30 | 18:12.5 | 2:11.8 |
| Lucas Wucherer | 20:19.30 | 18:45.6 | 1:33.7 |
Average team improvement: 1:51
