WOODBURY — This year’s Nonnewaug cross country teams consist of mostly all underclassmen with the exception of two juniors, but no seniors. 

Scarlett Ivey, a sophomore on the team, is extremely excited for this season.

“I’m most excited to see how everyone gets better as the season goes on,” said Ivey, “and to see if we can go back to back BL champs.” 

Ivey believes her practices are paying off with the results she saw in her previous meet.

“Practices are hard but very rewarding in the meets,” says Ivey. “You can just tell that with every week that goes by the races get easier. While we have only had one official meet so far, it was a big one and I’m glad that we won it.”

Arleigh Duff, the girls cross country and track coach, is pleased with the effort the girls are putting in during practice and at meets. 

“I’m really excited because of how hard they work,” said Duff. “They don’t complain, they just do the work every time, and that’s exciting as a coach when you don’t gotta deal with it.”

Deborah Flaherty, the boys cross country and track coach and also the NHS library media specialist, is excited for the season. 

“I’m excited to continue seeing the team progress,” said Flaherty. “We’ve had some great individual performances and team successes which not only gives the team reward for their hard work but also motivates them to do even better.”

Flaherty is blown away with the work ethic the teams are performing with during practices.

“They work,” Flaherty adds. “On some days, we have athletes running 7-10 miles. On other days, they are running 3 miles of speed work sandwiched between a mile warm up and mile cool-down.“