This years xc team hit the school year running, literally. Despite the loss of a strong senior class, the Cross Country team is off to an excellent start, with the addition of numerous freshman and new Montrosians joining the ranks. The Looking Glass caught up with the new Maverick cross-country star, Hannah Marino ‘18, who finished as the second overall girl in the first meet of the season.
“I ran track for four years,” said Marino, who specialized in the 800; however, she didn’t start training for long distances “until [this past] May.” For such a short running career, Hannah has competed exceptionally well. After her second place finish at Cambridge School of Weston in early September — which Hannah characterizes as her “favorite meet” — she finished third on the challenging Waring course. Despite these successes, Marino admits that “meets are intimidating.” She enjoys meets a lot more “after the [actual] race.” Still, Marino is not daunted by the factor that scares most runners: hills. In fact, she conceded that she even enjoys hitting the hills. “I like looking down and [being able to say] I just ran up that.”
Marino’s successes mirror those of the entire team. The first meet of the year at CSW was the first race for over half of the team, but the Mavericks rose to the occasion with Ciara Young ‘18, MaryGrace King ‘16, Maillane Werner ‘18, and Jensen Radner ‘17 all in the top ten. The team also made history by winning the first team award in Montrose history. Team awards are calculated by adding up the places of the top seven runners from each team; the team with the least amount of points wins. Montrose won third place not just because of top runners, but on account of the 6th and 7th runners as well — making the victory truly a team effort.
Look for more successes this season from Marino and the entire varsity team!