Coronado’s cross country team has been doing fantastically so far this year! With a great coaching staff and great team players, they strive for first. Mr. Stoughton, an English teacher for Coronado, leads the team in the right direction. In his words, “The team has been doing well, the kids have been getting better and have been really killing themselves at practice, times have been dropping and performances have been getting better.”

 As a coach, Stoughton is sure to mention, “The best thing about the team is probably the incredible range of kids.” The athletes are thinking a bit different, for them the best part is being able to see different parts of the city that you wouldn’t normally see. 

Of course, it is still important to have a coach to keep the team a team. Coach Stoughton has been coaching cross country at Coronado for about eight years. His favorite part about coaching is, “Watching the kids and being able to see the results.” This is part of the reason Mr. Stoughton decided to be the coach, plus, he loves running and has been running since he was in fifth grade!

You also can’t have a team without teammates. Even though cross country is an individual sport, teammates are crucial to a team. In Aidan Janney’s, 10, words, “We definitely need to work together to encourage our teammates and help them to push harder.” Another cross country runner for Coronado, Spencer Stepp, 9, said, “Cross country is a very tight-knit community especially for an individual sport.”

The cross country team has run through many challenges and has still come out on top. Times are dropping and performances are increasing. To convince you to join cross country Coach Stoughton says, “It’s lifelong fitness and something people will do for the rest of their lives, even the kids that hate it now.” Gain lifelong skills and friends by joining cross country next year!