Cross country is warming up for the District 10-5A meet on Thursday morning at 7 a.m., heading back to Warren Park, where it began its season.

“We aren’t 100 percent healthy, some ailments and soreness affecting the runners,” coach Ben Manning said. “But we’re looking to get ready for Thursday with who we have which should be fine.”

Returning to Warren Park, the stakes are much higher this time as the top three teams, and the top 10 individuals, advance to the UIL 5A Region II meet Oct. 25 in Grand Prairie. 

“For the girls’ side, they aren’t too worried about any schools since they have been doing great this year,” Manning said. “For the boys’ side, they are looking forward to seeing how they stack up against Lebanon Trail and Independence the most.”

In a year with more ups than downs, the cross country program is looking to achieve a big goal heading into districts and varsity runner, junior Vedant Shah, shares that sentiment.

“Heading into districts, besides qualifying for regionals, the team and I are really looking to win the whole thing, 1st place for girls and boys,” Shah said. “The team believes we have a pretty good chance at doing so because we’ve practiced a lot at Warren Park throughout the year and especially recently, leading up to Thursday.”