The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams have passed sectionals and are moving on to regionals this weekend. For some, this past weekend at sectionals consisted of personal records and a new opportunity to represent Columbus East.

Both the girls’ and the boys’ teams practice Monday through Friday after school and have meets on Saturdays. The meets can start as early as 6:30 in the morning to as late as 9:30 in the morning to 12-3 in the afternoon.

Junior Josh Mauzy has run Varsity during the Saturday meets every week since the third meet. This is his third year running for the East cross country team, and made it to semi-state last year. Mauzy ran his best time at the sectional meet this past weekend for a personal record of 18:45.

“Our coach has dropped our mileage to run speed workouts since it is tournament times. At the end of each season he switches our workouts from long distance to speed workouts,” said Mauzy.

Although there have been some injuries on the boys’ team, the team is doing their best to qualify and move forward in the tournaments.

The girls run distance on Mondays and Wednesdays, a track workout on Tuesdays and a speed workout on Thursdays. On Fridays, the team runs a shorter distance in order to have an easy day before going into the meets on Saturdays.

Freshman Amanda Pottorff is a Varsity runner on the girls’ team. She will be competing in Regionals this weekend. Her best time is 22:22, and ran 23:34 at sectionals this past weekend.

“There is a healthy competition within the team, and while it can be difficult, we all push each other to improve and succeed.”