The boys cross country team’s successful season took a turn for the worse Oct. 20 when sophomore Zach Weinstein suffered an injury to his knee that required five stitches. Weinstein, who has been the team’s top runner this season, was unable to run in the county championship.
The team has battled through illness, in addition to injury, on its way to a 4-1 record.
“Swine flu and other spread of flus are hindering our team’s full potential as many players are unable to attend practices,” coach Steve Bettis said. “We will not let it be a major factor in our competition at the championships.”
The girls team was also plagued by sickness, and unable to participate in the Manhattan Invitational Oct. 9.
“I am frustrated that I could not show my full potential because I had swine flu for the past two weeks,” senior Maryam Fikri said. “I am excited to go out there again and ruin [other runners’] fun.”
The boys team, however, made the trip to New York despite some runners staying home due to illness and other commitments.
“Running at the Manhattan Invite was awesome because we got to travel to New York and Times Square,” senior Tarek Elhage said. “We ran as well as we could considering the number of people that were sick and were missing because of the SAT.”
Prior to the Manhattan Invitational, CHS made a good showing at the Oct. 6 meet against both Damascus and Northwest as Elhage, sophomore Will Conway and Weinstein took first, second and third place, respectively. The girls team came in second place, ahead of Damascus and behind Northwest. Fikri and senior Alex Giedd led the way for the girls as they both placed in the top five in their events. Sophomore Charlotte Bourg’s performance was the deciding factor in the win over Damascus.
“[Bourg] kept pace with the group of talented young ladies in the secondary pack and took control when the race really mattered,” Bettis said. “She was the unsung hero of the meet for [CHS].”
At the Sept. 30 meet against Walter Johnson, CHS lost 36-20. The girls also fell 37-20 as Camille Bouvet of WJ outran Fikri by just one second.
While the team has continued to succeed this season, the next several meets are the most important of the season.
“The season is not over, all the big meets start now,” Jacobson said.