SpicyTricks

Written by Taylor Burnette

The OHS boys and girls cross country teams are doing well this year, obtaining new members and running as much as they can to to accomplish their goals. Some of their goals are to attend the state meet and improve their overall running times. The team has won some of its most important meets this year. The cross country team has been practicing everyday and having fun this year.

The cross country team has recently gained a new member named Elisabeth Oeien. She is a new student here at Orange and is currently a junior. She joined the cross country team because she thought it would be a great sport to keep in shape. Oeien says she is ready to show the cross country team what a great runner she is.




Saiquan Clark is a senior at OHS. He is on the team and he says that they are geared up for a fairly good season. He thinks that the team will not be as good as last year's team due to the loss of seniors, but he says  that the cross country team has a lot of new talent. Clark says that the most special thing about cross country is that the team is really close, so much so that they are like "a huge family." Clark and his teammates are “like a bunch of bros.”

According to Clark, the team runs five to ten miles depending on what type of workout the team does. During meets, they run 5K, about 3.2 miles. Clark says that cross country is his favorite sport.

The cross country up-coming races are on September 15 and October 3 The team has a pretty important race on the 29th of this month, one on October 5, and one on November 3. Clark loves cross country. “We just go and run and have fun and have a good time together,” said Clark.


Coach Roberts says they have 13 girls and 30 boys on the team this year. The girls team is small this year because 8 seniors graduated last year. The top two girls are seniors Indy Reid-Shaw and Devon Allen.

The cross country team has another strong returning sophomore runner named Christina Jones, according to Coach Roberts. The team mostly has freshmen and it's hard to predict how the team will do this year, but the boys team looks stong. They have four very strong upperclassmen this year: Dylan Perry, Will Henderson, Blake Hall, and Clark. Underclassmen may rise to the challenge by the end of the season.


Coach Roberts anticipates a top five state finish for the boys team. The goal for the girls team is just to make it to the state meet as a team and get all the ladies to improve their race times. The boys are looking to finish better than last year. The motto for both teams is to work hard. Every year for the past six years both teams made it to the state meet, and this year the goal is to send both teams to the state meet again. Coach Roberts hopes to keep the tradition this season.