The wind in your hair, the adrenaline in your heart and the burning of your legs in the sun. Running is a great way to exercise, as well as relieve stress. Some love the feeling of a good run and others, not so much. For some of our Louisville Royals, running is something that gives them a purpose here at school. Coached by Emily Bernath, our Cross Country team is sprinting into a great new season.

As students, our return to in-person classes also comes with the return of our normal sports schedule and seasons. Seeing that a large portion of our cross country runners placing within the top 60 out of over 120 runners at their meets, it’s not hard to say that we’re extremely proud.

These girls go above and beyond in everything they do. From training and conditioning to participating in races, they sure do bring their all. A regular after school practice includes a few miles of running through uneven terrain, no matter the temperature. It could be 60 or 90 degrees out and this team can be found with their sneakers on and their water bottles ready.

With this opportunity to highlight such an impressive sport, I also wanted to take this as a chance to spotlight some of the runners. I got the opportunity to interview Louisville Senior, Cristina Erskine:

Q: What got you interested in cross country?

Cristina: “I originally started [the sport] because my parents wanted me to do a sport in high school and running seemed like the best fit for me. I kept showing up and I’m still here running four years later!”

Q: What is your favorite part of cross country?

Cristina: “I like competing and the feeling of accomplishment after a race and any run really. I like the work and effort and that feeling of accomplishment makes all that work and effort worth it. Running also helps me stop thinking for a while which is nice because life and school can be very stressful for a while.”

Q: What are you looking forward to for this season?

Cristina: “I’m looking forward to being able to race again! COVID made it so I couldn’t race and even those who could had a very small amount of meets. It’s nice to have more competition in these meets too now that we can have more teams competing. I’m also glad to be running with my team again!”

Q: Do you have any personal or team achievements you would like to share?

Christina: “I’m very proud of myself and everyone on my team for continuing to show up. The determination and effort is incredible to see and also inspiring.”

Q: Are you planning on continuing cross country in college?

Cristina: “Yes, definitely yes.”

Thank you for such a great interview, Cristina! The Royal wishes our Cross Country runners the best of luck for their upcoming races, and we look forward to future meets and an amazing season this year. View the school athletics in the MyLouisville calendar to check for upcoming meets and events!