On November 17th, the Sunlake High School cross country teams attended the FHSAA State Championship. Although the boys’ team did not do as well as they had hoped, they “…showed up and performed to the best of their ability given the circumstances,” according to senior Bryce Reeves. Reeves has been running competitively since seventh grade. He played soccer at a young age, but he was not truly interested in sports until his father, who is the coach of the boys’ team, encouraged him into cross country.

“We did a lot of long runs, a lot of hill work outs, a lot of speed work,” Reeves explained. “Also, a lot of things that we didn’t do last year, and we fixed a lot of training that we knew we needed. We definitely went into the state championship a lot more confident this year.” Despite not performing as expected, the boys maintained a positive attitude and were proud of the girls’ team for getting runner ups.

According to Reeves, running will teach patience and perseverance, among other things. “A lot of times you would see other people who are just naturally fast,” he said. “But the only way you’re going to get better is by sticking with the training and doing everything correctly over a very long period of time. It will take a couple of years to get to where you think you should be.” With all of the hard work, comes lifelong memories and friendships. “Going through trails with my boys has created some of the best memories—a lot of laughs,” Reeves remarked. “That’s another one of my favorite parts: the team itself has a very good atmosphere. Anybody can join and after a week I’d see him as my brother.”