Douglas Cross Country competes in Regionals

The girls' team prepares to start the 3 mile run. Photo by Kierstin Webster.

On Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams competed in the Regional meet at South County Regional Park.

In order to get to this point, the teams had to qualify in the District meet. In that meet, bothteams placed third, moving them on to Regionals.

Several schools in the same region as went up against each other in an attempt to qualify for States, would take place in Orlando.

The girls’ team was up first, taking part in the first run of the day.

“Physically, I’ve been conditioning since summer. I’ve been to all of the practices and tried my best at all of them. But mentally, you really have to think that it’s not just you you’re running for, you’re running for the team,” freshman Stephanie Fado said.

The boys’ race commenced shortly after. When all of the boys had finished the race,everyone got together and anxiously awaited the results.

The top six teams move on to states. Douglas cross country teams came in 11^th for girls and seventh for boys. All, however, felt that they had performed to the best of their abilities in the race.

“I felt that I did a good job today, maybe not my best, but very well,” sophomore Jacob Oster said.

Many friends and family members stood at the finish lines cheering on and congratulating the runners and feeling proud regardless of the results.

The loss was very emotional for the team, but they have high hopes of coming back strong next season.

“The important thing to remember is that even in these big races it’s just three miles. The difference is the person running it,” Oster said.