Cross Country is one of Sentinel’s biggest athletic achievements, with a great team of hardworking dedicated runners and the coaches; Diego Hammett, Michael Jahnke, and Dane Oliver. The team starts morning practices in the summer to train for their upcoming season. One of Sentinels top runners said that his favorite thing to do with the team is “morning summer long runs”(Keagen Crosby). Then when the school year starts, they have evening practices after school. 

The team is very tight knit and they support each other and work together to grow. Their team has very special values such as love and equality. Their coaches promote team building and working out together is huge. At races they support each other and it really adds to why they are such a strong team. They all have their differences, and they use that to their advantage. They’ve been working on this since freshman year, and have really grown since. The seniors have come so far, and will hopefully continue running in their future after highschool. They have gotten through injuries together. 

This year the team has had lots of wins at meets. They’ve also had a lot of injuries, so varsity has been switched around a lot. Even though they’ve been injured they still try to keep up and support their team. One thing they do to support their team while injured is make sure there are no monsters in each other’s closet. One monster they are especially scared of is sully from monsters inc.. Some things they do to prepare for meets is take ice baths, an easy 3-4 mile run, and carb load the night before. Taking ice baths help relax muscles, reduce inflammation, and improve breathing. They do an easy run before, so they can stay warmed up. Carb Loading helps them maximize their glycogen stores, which gives them more energy. 

This year’s state was held at the UM Golf course. There were lots of schools across the state of Montana participating. The races started early in the morning, and the weather was rainy and cold. Even though the weather wasn’t perfect, the boys took third place overall, and both Malia Bradford and Keagen Crosby took third in their individual race. They trained very hard all year for this victory. 

The team had a great season overall and their efforts really showed from every individual. It was a great year for the seniors to end their highschool cross country career. It was a good influence for the incoming freshman. Even though State could have gone better, they had some good highlights, and the team can learn and grow from this experience.