Mustang Cross Country

Success Attained Through the Hallmark of Continuous Improvement

“Our sport is your sport’s punishment.”  This catchy little quip holds quite a lot of truth in consideration of the nature and objective of Cross Country running.  The intent is to simply run, run, run, and then run some more, with the supposedly simple quest of just getting faster and stronger, and increasing endurance along the way.  However, this quest quickly becomes a much broader challenge as the runner must overcome all the mental games (will power, self-doubt, just “not feeling it”), physical pain, and overall fatigue – AND the wide-ranging external factors (hills, creeks, mud, dust, heat, humidity, cold, wind, rain, sleet).

Led by XC Head Coach WILL RODGERS and Asst Coach DANTE DORSEY, the Mustang Cross Country runners powered through the 2018 season with fierceness and determination, conquering these many obstacles and emerging as a much faster and stronger team by season’s end.  And while success can certainly by measured by number of medals earned and championships won, the fact remains that those awards are reserved for a very few (including a couple of this year’s Mustang runners).  Success is also measured by other tangible and intangible metrics.

MA XC experienced significant team and individual success in 2018, as evidenced by the fact that up and down the 18-person competitive roster, the team set a staggering 64 individual Personal Records during the season – meaning that many of the Mustangs set multiple PR’s; and most of the runners who didn’t quite match prior-year PR’s still experienced current-year success by setting numerous season’s best times with each passing week.  Ultimately this team of largely inexperienced runners (with a few seasoned pro’s in the mix) conquered the challenges and achieved success by striving for and attaining continuous improvement throughout the season.