On Friday, September 3, the Palisade cross country team headed to Minturn Colorado to compete in a JV and varsity meet. The course had a rough terrain of many hills and was at a high elevation of over 8000 feet which are two challenging components when competing. Ema Babnic, a Junior at Palisade says “I think the meet was okay, cross country is definitely a sport I do for the fun of it. I enjoy running and that aspect was fulfilled in this meet.” This is Babnic’s second year doing cross country and states, “ I think this year is going much better than last year and one of those factors is the coach. The coach brings a really good energy and it is a whole different dynamic but everything is more fun which makes you want to go to practice even though it is hard. If you want, you can be really serious about it and if you don’t want to be serious about it that’s okay too.” The cross country team only has about 18 members but Babnic explains that some athletes did very well, including Hank DeFord, a sophomore at Palisade who placed 17th. The cross-country team embodies hard work and dedication although it is a challenging sport dealing with uncontrollable factors such as weather, terrain, and altitude. These factors don’t hinder or prevent the athletes from being successful and reaching their full potential. The future for the cross country team could soon achieve excellence as well as continue to develop the skills they already have.