Sydney Lader will also be running at Districts. An earlier version of this article left her off the list.

The girls cross country team finished their regular season last Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Suburban League Meet. The girls team placed third in the meet and are now preparing for their post-season.

Because cross country runners practice five days a week, those drills are divided into different exercises to help strengthen the runners in the fields that Cross Country incorporates.

On Mondays and Wednesdays the team has hill and speed workouts, running around 5-8 miles. The team runs steady states (running at a steady pace) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Fridays, the team has pre-meet workouts and has their meets on Saturdays. Finally, the team has a long run on Sundays to finish the week.

SHS head girls cross country coach and Honors Algebra II teacher Anna Guseilo is coaching her eighth season.

“The biggest change is that this team is very young,” Guseilo said. “The majority of the team are underclassmen. I think we are doing a better job of running in packs this season than we have done previously. We have more girls who are training together and really pushing each other to work together.”

The upperclassmen of the team claim to be working hard to improve their ability this season.

SHS Junior and cross country team captain, Ava Esser is running her third varsity season of her career.

“Since freshman year, I’ve gotten faster and upped my mileage,” Esser said. “I’ve become a stronger runner overall.”

SHS Freshman Morgan Hillman is running her first varsity season of her career and aspires to individually make it to regionals this season.

“I love being on the team,” Hillman said. “I’ve been lucky to have known the girls since last year.”

SHS Senior and cross country team captain Taryn Halley is running her second cross country season of her career.

“I have definitely improved a lot this past year,” said Halley. “I dealt with a knee injury which set me back a bit, but I am still faster than I was last year. It’s nice seeing that improvement through both cross country and track season.”

The girls team has 13 underclassmen this year while only having 11 upperclassmen.

“I want to help lead the team to regionals and states as captain this year,” Halley said. “I just want the team to do the best they can. Especially since we have a very young team, I’m excited to see all of our underclassmen perform.”

The team is heading into the postseason this weekend. On Saturday, Oct. 21, Taryn Halley, Josie Howard, Kundana Ganjikunta, Kaya Parker, Camryn Cayne, Morgan Hillman and Sydney Lader will run at the OHSAA Division I Districts meet.

“I’m excited. I think that we have a lot of room for growth, being a young team and I think we are going to be more competitive then we have been the previous years,” said Guseilo.