By MARK MOLINA, Staff Writer
Even during the summer layoff, cross country athletes have been putting foot to ground in order to stay in shape for the fall season.
But as the calendar turned to August this week, it has become crunch time for the Metro-area squads like Hanna and Brownsville Veterans Memorial.
Both come in with goals of success, but kicking the summer doldrums is a big part of the first week of practices.
So far, the Golden Eagles have been eased back into things with twice-a-week weight training mixed in with lots and lots of distance running.
“They’ve been doing pure distance and pure endurance work right now just to get them in shape,” Hanna head coach Olaya Teran said. “Next week, we’ll probably do little workouts, but we start with mileage like they’re doing right now.”
So far, Teran has been pleased with practice here in the early going, but hopes that her team will be a model of consistency as they seek out more success this season.
“We have some kids who are pretty consistent and they’re going to start to find out that if they are consistent, they’re going to be alright for the season,” she said. “Just getting these kids out here early in the morning to kind of give up their summer is kind of hard sometimes — we’re doing fine.”
Hanna has some veteran pieces and came into the week expecting to have another solid season after second- and third-place finishes for the boys and girls, respectively, at last year’s District 32-6A meet.
But with a bulk of that boys team — which lost the district crown to Harlingen High by a mere five points last year — and all of the girls returning, Teran believes her athletes simply need to handle their business right now to make noise later.
“The mood has been alright (this week),” Teran said. “We know that we have girls that have potential and have the talent, as well as the boys. We should be fine; we just need to get them in here.”
In District 32-5A, the Brownsville Veterans runners have been working on their own through strength and conditioning training since early July, but Chargers head coach Jorge Medina says his team has a lot to improve on before the team’s first meet.
But one thing is for sure, there is no shortage of athletes looking to prove themselves.
“We’ve been at it since July 10 and this is their fourth week already,” Medina said. “We don’t look too bad — we still need a lot of improvement, but we’re up to 60 kids in boys and girls combined. It’s one of those sports where you gradually get better, so we’re trying to get these kids ready to race. We have our first meet coming up on (August) 19th in Edinburg.”
Last season, the girls and boys finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at the district meet.
Medina doesn’t expect gaining ground in the district to be easy this season, especially after losing a bevy of senior leadership from last season.
But after a good week of practice, Medina is hopeful his team can answer the call.
“The morale has been good, the kids have been showing up and they’re working hard,” Medina said. “We’re in a real tough district, but hopefully we can really improve on what we did last year. I hope we can just continue to stay healthy.”