The Westside Girls Cross Country team is coming in hot this season and is ready to take on any competition that comes their way. The Warriors lost two key runners last year but have plenty returning and new talent to take them far this season.

Senior Violet Collins is a key runner and leader for her team this upcoming fall. She and her teammates have been working hard over the summer to train as well as prepare for their season.

“We got a lot of miles in over the summer and have been incorporating speed workouts and hills,” Collins said. “We have also been doing some team bonding to build positive relationships on the team.”

Another key runner on the team, Ellie Wittmann said that the summer went well which means the season will go fantastic.

“We’ve been running all summer to prepare for the season, as well as lifting,” Wittmann said.

“Some goals are to create a good environment for all our runners and have everyone run as best they can, one of our running goals is to get seven people under 22 minutes for a 5k.” Wittmann said.

With White and Miner graduating, the team will need to rebuild their culture and have new leaders step up.

“This season we lost a lot of our influential runners who graduated, so we have to build a new team and culture starting with the underclassmen,” Collins said. “To do this we will build great relationships and continue to have a positive environment at practice everyday.”

Along with Violet, Wittmann has many plans and goals for the season to continue to cut down time.

“Some goals are to create a good environment for all our runners and have everyone run as best they can,” Wittmann said.

“One of our running goals is to get seven people under 22 minutes for a 5k.”

Girls cross country has their first meet on Aug.31, at Wright Creek and is ready to dominate.