Last year the cross country boys team made it to State with hard work and determination.

The success can be attributed to both sides of the team, the coaches and the runners all played their part to help one another. .

“Last year was my first year as head coach at North and I think when you have a coaching change, there is always some growing pains, with new things and how the system works. I feel there wasn’t anything too drastically different last year, that the athletes adapted to fairly well,” said coach Anthony DeStephano.

As much as they want all their runners to run as fast as they can, they realize their runners need to be paced at a time that works best for them.

“As a coach sometimes, you need to pull back on the workload, especially for cross country, some athletes can sometimes go overboard and do too much, too fast, which leads to injury or burnout. As a coach, you need to recognize this and basically have individualized plans for athletes,” Destephano said.

This year, they hope to have as good as a season as last year. They are a team, devoted to each other and always try to help each other improve.  

“My teammates help me during the season by making the season enjoyable because I am able to spend time with people who I have become great friends with over time. I am able to help them by providing an example as we all work towards the same goal of becoming the best cross country team we can be,” said  country runner Brandt Batteau.

The team last year was a great year, so this year they want to work just as hard, if not harder to get the same results.

“This year, I hope our cross country team stays dedicated and determined as it has been years before. By training hard and working together, I believe our cross country team can be the best it’s ever been,”  Batteau said

There is always room for improvement, but the team is happy with where they’re at now. They what to continue to do their best and strive.

“ I always strive to do my best in anything I put my mind to so once I started to see improvements in myself, I wanted continue my career throughout high school and maybe even collage,” Batteau said