Loretto Academy’s runners went beyond the lines in the 2023 cross-country season.

Coach Joe Ramirez and Assistant Coach Moriah trained six girls to compete this year. 

Practice started during the summer in July, and the team started competing at the end of August.

This year, the girls successfully completed a total of eight meets and ended the season with state.

Loretto junior Mia Moreno said: “At the beginning of the season, we started by running two miles each day.

We slowly increased our mileage and conditioning until we could all run about four miles nonstop by the end of the season.”

This year, two girls attended states in San Antonio, Texas, juniors Isabella Hallal and Vivienne Colon.

Hallal said: “The weather during the meet in San Antonio was really rainy, cold, and windy and the course was grassy and muddy too.”

Colon said: “My toes were really cold.

The day we ran was the coldest day of the week, it was 38 degrees.”

Although the girls didn’t make it out with a win, there is no doubt that next season will be full of success.

Coach Ramirez said: “They did a really good job. 

They started a little slow, but it is expected especially since they started practicing later in the summer.

 But towards the end of the season, they all dropped their times, and they did extremely well for the time frame that we had.”

As the cross-country team continues to train, the team will welcome new members with open arms next year!