Future is Now For SSHS Girl's Cross Country

Buoyed by some burgeoning newcomers, the girl's cross country team completed one of its best seasons in school history, finishing as both conference and division champions, and laying the foundation for a premiere team in the next few years.

The Cyclones did not lose a single regular season meet, finishing a phenomenal 13-0, with two runners earning All-Conference honors, as well as six being named to the All-Division team.

South Side coach Christopher Webster said that two freshmen, Lauren McDonough and Miranda D'Accordo, as well as junior cross-country first timer Cathryn Ryan, were pivotal in the team's success.

"Freshman McDonough became our number one girl by the end of the season, and earned a spot on the South Side cross-country all-time fastest 5K list," he said. "Miranda D'Accordo was also top seven all season. Cathryn Ryan joined the team for her first year on cross country — having never run it before — but she was our first or second place finisher all season. These three girls were new additions to the team and were instrumental in the team's cohesive success."

Those impressive underclassmen were led and mentored by senior co-captains Jamie Matos and Liz Textor, who were instrumental at integrating the fresh faces into the mold of the team — hosting summer workouts, organizing practices and offering advice and leadership all season. Matos was a top five runner for the team, while Textor started slowly before heating up and competing at the conference championship.

Webster said he knows his captains' leadership and assistance helped groom his promising underclassmen into what should be a strong team for years to come.

"The next year or two are going to be very promising for this team," he said. "We are only graduating one of our top seven girls, and several of our runners are still underclassmen. As they get older and stronger and learn pacing, we will be a team with whom to contend."

The season was not entirely seamless for South Side. Heading into a meet against rival Lynbrook, they were six-point underdogs, however, the Cyclones managed to run some of their fastest times of the season. The victory, which was early in the season, served as a tremendous step in the right direction, and put South Side on its way to a conference title.

Co-captain Textor said her team was motivated by their status as dark horses.

"Knowing that we were underdogs in the meet pushed us all harder to all get personal records," she said. "I believe almost everyone that meet broke their best time. It felt so good knowing that we beat one of our fiercest competitors."

Webster agreed that the match was a big step forward for his young team.

"They were aware of their competition's times, and their times were close to ours," he said. "The girls knew that much of this race would be mental, 'outrunning' the opponent and defeating them mentally, and that's what they did. This was a major victory for us early. We knew Lynbrook was a primary force standing in the way of a conference championship, so the victory was sweet and gave us a nice boost to the team's confidence."

With a conference championship behind them already, and their top three runners returning next season, there is no reason to believe that the best is yet to come for this South Side cross country team.

"Coming back next year, with the confidence and experience we have, I think we will see even more improvements," Webster said. "If I were to predict, I think that next year will be at least as successful as this season, if not more so."