On Saturday, Aug. 27, the cross country teams participated in a time trial at Pioneers Park.

The time trials helped runners see how they would do in an actual race as well as serving as a starting place for their times for the year.

The runners with the fastest times were chosen to run varsity for the first meet on Sept. 3 at Walnut Creek hosted by Papillion-La Vista South. Runners with the fastest times will be chosen to run varsity at the next meets. 

“The race itself was really hard but I ran the best I’ve ever run, earning me a spot on varsity,” sophomore Megan Baugh said. “As a team, I think we did really well. I’m most excited to see how much I can improve personally and how my team improves as a whole. We’ve all worked really hard into the upcoming season so I’m excited to see that hard work pay off.”

In preparation for the time trial, runners participated in a voluntary summer running program. During the program, runners would train together at the school in the mornings. They would occasionally do workouts but would mostly practice running. 

“Our more serious runners worked hard during summer running and we saw it pay off in a really unique way,” head cross country coach Ryan Salem said. “Normally, the time trial is just getting the rust off. To see that some of our runners ran faster than their best time at the end of last year was really impressive. I expect both girls and boys to be state qualifiers this year.”