Sophomore runner Megan Perkins trudged through the finish line at the cross country sections race as the sleet cascaded down.

According to Perkins, the team performed well at the race despite poor weather, demonstrating that they are competitors to the other teams.

“Considering that it was sleeting, windy and very cold, the race went OK,” Perkins said. “No one was expecting personal best times. We just wanted to give some of the other teams a scare.”

Perkins said even though many runners were sore and tired, the whole team pushed through to the finish line.

“We all hurt physically. Our mental strength remained unwavering. We all had the courage to push through the pain and finish,” Perkins said. “It takes guts to do that, especially when you see people dropping out in front of you.”

According to head coach Rachel Hoffman, the team pushed through adversity during the sections meet and ran well against some of the best teams in the state.

“The section meet is always a tough meet,” Hoffman said. “Section 6AA is probably the section in the state that has the most talent and the most ranked teams.”

Senior captain Conrad Phelan said although the team performed well, the team will have to run more during the offseason to prepare for next year.

“The team mainly needs to work on getting a good summer base, in terms of mileage. This year not that many runners consistently ran throughout the summer, which could have made a big difference for a lot of people,” Phelan said.

According to Hoffman, the teams experienced sickness and injury, which took a lot of runners out of the race. She said they always pulled through and ran the best they could.

“The strong points of this team is that they persevere through adversity,” Hoffman said. “We had a lot of injuries but they always came back strong.”

Perkins said this year, the the team became very close running together and pushing each other.

“We all felt pride in wearing orange and black because we all knew we were representing a team we all cared about,” Perkins said. “We became a family these past few months — a tight knit group that never excluded anyone.”