The cross country and track season starts early at De Soto High School. Team members start training during the winter season to condition for next fall.

Unlike other teams, conditioning for the cross country team goes without notice, but it helps the team improving stamina and endurance helping them at their meets.

Without training in the off season, runners like junior Angel Vasquez would plateau and his career would not be as successful as it is now.

“Success in distance running boils down to a couple of things. One is consistent, year-around training. The second is the amount of miles that you run,” head coach Chris McAfee said. “Given two athletes of equal ability, the one that trains the most consistently while compiling the most miles is the one that will be the most successful.”

Runners are not required to run, but McAfee encourages them to, so that they can continue to improve the distance they are able to run.

“The best example I can give is weight lifting. If you and I are of equal strength and you lift weights for one year and I lift weights for 10 weeks, you are going to be stronger than I am. The same thing in distance running- the more consistent you train, the better you are going to be,” McAfee said.

The bond between team members is strong because the only thing they can do on a run is talk with each other and the bond that this team shares is hard to find in other activities.

As the team continues training during their off season, they continue to build endurance for the next cross country season at DHS. Their training is not as recognized as the other sports at DHS, but their success tells the crowd otherwise.