Boys cross country team arrives at Runners Workshop in Big Bear, California. The cross country team enjoyed training and team bonding over the course of 4 days. “This trip was an amazing bonding opportunity for our team.” said Junior Eli Mayer.

The cross-country team traveled to Big Bear, California, for a team bonding and training experience at Runners Workshop this past summer. 

The team headed for California early Friday morning on July 28 for a four-day bonding and training trip. The runners had an early start to their days with a warm up beginning at 6 a.m. 

They either had a long aerobic run or a run where they had to meet a certain time. This, along with the running workshops had the team averaging seven miles a day. The Falcons learned from many different experienced runners in the workshops.

“From the training mindset to race strategies, our runners learned how to hone their minds to prepare for any situation that may come up during practice or a race,”  said junior Eli Mayer, captain of the boys cross country team. “These included having multiple plans depending on how fast or slow the competition takes off, and on the physical side, we were taught the best ways to start races and how to deal with every situation that might arise in the start. Overall, the lessons learned from the workshops have helped build a stronger team and showed the athletes the potential this team has.”

For the team bonding portion, they had three to four hours of free time each day where they either partook in time at the lake kayaking and swimming or played a variety of games like basketball, volleyball and spikeball. Each day they finished the night with cabin games.

“Throughout the whole camp, at the end of each day, we competed in cabin games for points,” sophomore Tori Walton said. “At the end of the camp, the cabin that won the most points, won the competition. My cabin won, which was the highlight of my camp experience.”