The women’s cross-country team runs against many other schools in the John Cleland Invite. Coach Ellington said practices are paying off as he sees improvement within the team.

The women’s cross-country team will compete at Culver Invitational on Sept. 23. Mark Ellington, women’s cross-country interim head coach, said conditioning is the team’s main priority.

“For anyone that’s done a sport, practice is conditioning,” he said. “We’re conditioning the body so it can move quicker and cover a distance of five kilometers as best it can.”

Additionally, Gina Kong, cross-country runner and sophomore, said conditioning is hard during practice, but it pays off during meets.

“It’s obviously really, really tiring when you’re running,” she said. “But it feels really good to know that you finished and (might have got a faster time).”

To add on, Ellington said CHS does a good job of balancing the varsity and junior varsity team at CHS.

“Our team has both JV and varsity on it, and the philosophy there is that if you’re working to get everyone better, and you’re giving everyone the opportunity to get better, then even if they’re not (on) varsity, they have an opportunity to invest in themselves, make their body stronger, and get better at (running),” he said. “So the philosophy is (to give equal opportunities to everyone), so they can get better. If we have an improved team, then we’ll have a competitive team.” By Asini Jayarapu