WHS Cross Country teams preparing for a successful fall season

By Matt Pascarella

In preparation for the upcoming preseason and regular fall season Windham High School’s cross-country team held a six-week cross country summer camp from June 24 to Aug. 2 for Windham and Raymond students in grades seven through 12 at Windham High School’s stadium track.

Windham sophomore Eva Vancellette, left, and freshman
Liam Moxcey circle the track at Windham High School 
on Friday, July 26 during the WHS Cross Country 
Summer Camp. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

“What we tried to present is to provide an opportunity for anyone to unlock their potential,” said assistant WHS cross country coach Jeff Conant. “If it’s somebody that’s interested in getting faster for another sport or they’re just looking to have better fitness, we can start you on a program that will be catered to where you start and get you up to a place where you’ll feel really good about the progression that you’ve made. Being able to ... provide a healthy opportunity for kids in the summertime has been really nice.”

The theme of the camp was to “unlock your potential.” There were 25 athletes who took advantage of this opportunity. The camp was a detailed daily sequence of movements and exercises, running assignments, followed by group strength building and stretching in order to increase flexibility, speed and, most importantly to avoid injury. It also offered consistent daily and weekly speed and strength development opportunities on the track or in the weight room.

The coaching staff worked to help campers realize being a true athlete is a lifestyle choice that includes respecting your body, choosing appropriate foods, getting sleep, hydrating, setting goals, learning and remaining positive, respecting others, and seeking happiness.

“I like cross country and had run it before so I thought it would be a good idea to run it during the summer,” said Windham seventh grader Anthony Douglass. “I’ve done strides and pretty good sprints and progressed from day one to now.”

High school runners have been helping Douglass achieve some of his goals.

The running groups are broken up and based on experience with the more knowledgeable runners going out for longer runs.

“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. It’s a lot of hard work but is always worth it in the end,” said Windham eighth grader Celia Boothby. “I’ve learned the proper running form; I can’t really run long distance so here I’ve been able to stretch that limit and I’ve learned how to do a lot of the stretches and the exercises which will help me even when I’m not running.”

This will contribute to Boothby playing softball and will help with baserunning.

Windham senior Tayla Pelletier is playing two sports for the upcoming fall season, cross country and soccer.

“I wanted to continue running with my teammates,” said Pelletier. “[The camp] always helps encourage me. I wanted to improve my running, and these are some of the best coaches to do it with. It definitely helps my endurance and my mindset; my mindset is improving with every long run. It’s going to help my endurance a lot [on the soccer field]."

Windham senior Andrew Young wanted to start on the cross country season early and figured the camp was the best way.

“It's definitely going to help with endurance and getting me back to where I was last year,” said Young. “As I started running with the team, I slowly started getting better and better with them and doing more.”

At the beginning of the camp, the campers ran a 5K in Gorham and for some, finished their first 5K ever. On the last day of camp, they headed back to Gorham to rerun that 5K and recognize what they have accomplished and the abilities they have unlocked over the summer of 2024. <