Assistant Coach and Social Media Manager Leigh Ann

The sophomore girls of the 2024 Cool Breeze race are about to start. Emma Collier, Aliyah Acosta, Flynn Weinrich, Emily Watson and Chloe Barrett are featured on the team.

As the new school year begins, so does the exciting world of sports. One sport that deserves the spotlight is cross-country, which combines endurance, challenge and positivity. Let’s preview the Sage Creek Cross-country team’s promising future and last year’s glories. 

The 2023-2024 school year was a record-breaking year with standout performances like Gabriella Peters’ impressive time of 18:19 and Josiah Bowman clocking in at 14:52 at the Woodbridge Invitational, a highly competitive three-mile course. 

Michela Mirracco, a senior this year who shares similar aspirations as Peters, achieved her fastest three-mile race time at 19:52 last year. 

However, at the first race of this season, Cool Breeze, she achieved her personal best with a time of 18:07. Reflecting on the season, Mirracco attributes her success to “having a positive mindset and just enjoying the races.”

On top of the returning runners and their previous records, casting the spotlight on our great addition of new runners this season is crucial. Chloe Barrett’s impressive performance in the first race, winning first place with a time of 20:19, is certainly a fantastic start. Barrett said with a smile, “The last race made me motivated and excited to see what the future of the season holds.”                                                                                     

Coach Jason Jacobson, has coached cross country since 1992, four of those years at Sage Creek, he is also a completer of 28 marathons. Jacobson said, “We have a young team this year, so our goals for the team are to try to get the boys and girls team to qualify for the state meet. We are division three so it’s going to be a hard challenge as we graduated a lot of amazing seniors last year. All in all hopefully at the higher end we get a lot of them qualified, and for the rest of the team, we want to get the younger kids to experience and adapt to cross country.”

In the trails and out, the team continues to bond in hopes of growing their running abilities and connection with eachother. As returning runners reflect on the season prior, another great year is in store for all the athletes, new and old.