Cross country team possesses great athleticism

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

For the Strathmore High School Cross Country Program, there is a lot of potential from both the returning runners and a core group of Grade 10’s who are coming out of an excellent program at the junior high level.
Head coach Paul Sonsteby sees a lot of potential with his group and the athleticism to push one another on the track.
“I’m really excited about our cross country team,” said Sonsteby. “We lost some strong runners from last year and some of the best runners I’ve ever coached. This crop of Grade 10’s is absolutely phenomenal. Our first run, we were so impressed with the athleticism, coaching and early dedication of our Grade 10’s.”
He said that the team has been raking in the benefits of those feeder systems from the junior high and elementary running programs, who have developed strong runners, and that is the reason they have seen success the last couple of years.
“We’re building runners,” Sonsteby said. “I say it every year, we’re getting stronger runners and our 10’s. We normally have this carry over, where a lot of times I see a lot of great runners in grade 11, who didn’t come to me the year before and I didn’t know about in time. This year especially, when you have three solid grades of runners like that, it really makes for an exciting season.”
Maria Fanning, who is a returnee, thinks this will be a well-rounded team that will push each other on the track.
“We lost some Grade 12’s that were really strong runners and I feel like the grade 10’s coming up have a lot of promise,” said Fanning. “They’ll challenge us because we don’t want the younger ones to beat us.”
On a personal level she hopes to push herself and make a third consecutive trip to provincials.