Girls cross country team looks to continue dominance

For decades, the girls cross country team has been a major success for Milford athletics. Last year, the team came in third in the state even with one of its best runners injured.

¨The team is hoping to be better than last year,” senior Mallory Barrett said. “We lost a senior on varsity, but the younger runners are really stepping up and helping the team out.” Their top runners Mallory Barrett, Victoria Heiligenthal, Paige Saiz, Reagan Lobozynski, and Natalie Black are all stepping up and running strong times to start the year.

The girls are continuing to grow as a team as well as a family. They took a trip up north to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to establish these relationships. Mallory and Kate both said this was a fun experience because of the memories they made.

¨The goal to succeeding is having good connections with your teammates,” said Barrett. ¨The reason why we are all so close is because we are like a family. We hang out outside of cross country a lot and this helps us get to know each other’s weaknesses and helps us support each other while running.”

Milford’s pack running is shown throughout their meets and even during practices. They all run next to each other, encouraging each other to push through the pain. Running together like this makes the runners challenge themselves and this allows the cross country runners to score a lot of points for Milford. The team hopes to have an even better turnout at States this year as they have all been working hard to achieve this goal.

“We have been training very hard with running 1000 miles in the off season and regionals is what we are working towards, hoping to go farther this year,” Gillingham states.

As she said, the whole team is determined to show off its hard work through Regionals on Oct. 29.

What makes this team so good is its motivation to succeed as well as their bond that they have outside of training. The runners all put in their maximum effort every day, which is extremely important for a successful team. They run outside of practice, and they run mostly every day even when it is not in season. They are very disciplined, making sure that everyone is working hard.

The team’s best runner,Barrett, is one of the best runners in Michigan.

¨Mallory is supposed to have her best season yet,” Gillingham said. “Mallory´s talent, hard work and dedication will help push her to be top 10 in the state.¨

Despite the obstacles the team faces, their bond, hardworking mentality, and love for the sport is sure to have them bound for a successful season of running.