Cross country ends the 2023 season by going to districts, the competition that determines who competes in state. History Teacher Andrew Zimmer has been teaching at North for 10 years. Zimmer teaches economics, United States history and AP Comparative Government. Zimmer is also the head coach of cross country and has been coaching cross country for seven years.

Zimmer was the assistant coach for five years and became the head coach two years ago. Zimmer says he believes the team trained hard during the summer and after school.

“We went to Fontenelle Park often,” said Zimmer. “We did hills, stretches, and core exercises.”

Zimmer says runners improved not just as runners, but they also improved as students and leaders.

“Cross country requires effort, time and energy,” said Zimmer. “Majority of the team was there ready to work.”

Emerson Hicks, 11, has been running cross country for two years.

“I was interested in cross country freshman year,” said Hicks “A friend of mine took me in.”

Hicks also says that cross country requires a lot of effort, energy and time. “I did a lot of stretching, and I ate the right things for breakfast,” said Hicks.

Hicks is proud of how he did during the season because he ran the Mahoney State Park race in only 20 minutes and set a personal record at districts.

Alexander James, 11, has been running cross country for five years. James said that he joined cross country because his stepsister signed him up in seventh grade without his knowledge.

“She [stepsister] needed a sport to do and didn’t want to do it alone.” said James.

James has loved cross country since he joined and believes he has had a good season.

“I had a lot of fun with my team and had a lot of fun training, “said James.

James wanted to complete a course in 18 minutes but only ran it in 19.

Before districts, James was in a car accident that caused him not to do as well as he expected. The course and the weather also did not play a positive role.

“The race was on flat land [instead of a hill], it was hot, and my back kept locking up, so I was stiffed armed,” said James.

Zimmer believes the team did well at the districts. The effort the team put in before districts lead to the outcome. Some members placed between 39th  and  55th  but, James placed 33rd and Hicks placed 36th .

Only the top 15 runners qualified for state. However, making state was the least important thing according to James.

“Cross country is not just about the times,” said James, “It is about the effort you put into it.’’