TOWAMENCIN – Practicing six days a week and two and a half hours a day since the middle of August, the North Penn cross country teams have been hard at work running more miles a day than the average person would think possible. So far, the men’s and women’s teams are 3-0 in the conference, both feeling optimistic about future races.
A member of the cross country team since freshman year, senior captain Ryan Grace sees an improvement this year in the team’s determination.
“We’re practicing more together,” said Grace. “Last year we were really separated in terms of speed and ability, but this year we’re a lot closer.”
So far the men’s team has been up against tough teams from Lower Merion, Abington, Wissahickon, Souderton, and Pennridge. Grace defines the meet against Pennridge as the hardest so far for the difficult course and stiff rivalry against the school, but North Penn came out on top with a substantial win.
“Our guys responded really well… with still half the season to go, it was a really big win,” said head coach Mike Werner.
The women’s team also holds an undefeated record at meets, attributing their success to better relationships and closer times.
“We’re off to a really good start,” commented senior captain Colleen McGovern. “Hopefully we can continue that into our championship season.”
Brianna Mengini, another senior captain, is looking forward to post-season as well: “We all work hard and work together… we’re super motivated to get to states.”
They have been up against the same schools as the men’s team, along with going to the Bulldog Invitational, the Briarwood invitational, and attending the Six Flags XC Invitational this past weekend. Coach Jim Crawford points out the high difficulty level at these invitationals, as the team hasn’t won any yet.
“They’ve got to run faster,” says Crawford. “They’re good at practice; they just have to compete harder.”
Looking to the future at districts and states, he remarks “the next two weeks will tell the tale: if we’ve improved or haven’t improved, or if we’re the same.”
Next for the two teams is an away meet at Quakertown on October 2nd and a home meet at Central Bucks West and South on October 9th.