After months of hard work, early mornings, late afternoons, and a lot of sweat, cross country made it to regionals! The team reached its goals were reached and now has high aspirations in reaching states. The participants are a family united by the adrenaline of running; their experiences are all different, featuring several methods of getting their heads in the game. 

Before a big race, these are some methods the runners practice:

“Weeks before, I reduce my training so that way when I get to the race, my legs are fresh. The week of the race,  I make sure I sleep nine hours a night, drink lots of water, eat a lot of carbs, and the day of I make sure I’m well rested and well hydrated,” said senior Emmanuel Roca. 

“I make sure I don’t overwork my body and reduce how hard I train so that my body is ready for the race,” said senior Lia Broder.

As most of know, preparation is key for any sport, but not only is preparation extremely important, motivation is a big key factor as well. Motivation comes from teamwork and coaches so with this being said, Coach Cotter Lamb shares his wisdom and expectations:

“Pain is in the mind and I believe that my runners will do their best, as they always do, and I hope that we will reach the top five fastest runners,” said Coach Lamb.

As excited as the coach is and as much as he would like for them to win, some of the students have some other thoughts

“I think we will not win because there are super competitive teams that are faster than us in our region, like Belen, for example. But we will definitely do our best and hopefully we will all PR,” said senior Carlos Aldecoa. 

“I’m not really excited for regionals because I’m tired of preparing and practicing, but yes I am at the same time because I’ve worked really hard this season,” he added. 

The ILS community wishes the cross country team the best of luck and hope they bring home the state trophy.