Parkway North Girls Cross Country Team Starts Season Strong

At practice on Sept. 15, junior Sophie Wong smiles as she finishes her run through the neighborhoods around North High. Wong is a strong runner who has consistently done well at meets.

The Girl’s Cross Country team has had a strong start to their season, with runners continuing to improve at each meet.

At their first meet on Aug. 26, freshman Remy Brawner won first place in the junior varsity 3200 meter race, and junior Sophia Wong won first place in the varsity 5k. The Parkway North girls junior varsity team won third place overall.

“I feel like the season’s going really well; we’re winning,” Brawner said.

At the most recent meet on Sep. 14, Wong earned fifth place in the girls 5000 meter run. Placing right behind her in sixth was senior Kalina Zheleva. The race consisted of 265 runners from 29 different schools from all around St. Louis, spanning from Oakville to Metro High School.

“We have a very small team right now. We have a couple of kids who are dealing with some injuries. The athletes who have competed have competed very well. Historically well. I couldn’t be more proud of the ones that we’ve had out running so far,” girls cross country coach Jason Crawford said.

Even though cross country is a partially individual sport, the team has formed a supportive and tight-knit community. The boys and girls from both varsity and junior varsity teams practice together, giving the runners a chance to connect with people they might not have before.

“We all connected really well, and we’re all really supportive and encouraging to each other,” Brawner said. “We come together, and we’re all working for the same goal.”

The boys and girls teams run to Smoothie King together and run at Creve Coeur Lake from time to time.

“I really like the community because it’s like we all have the same interests, and it’s just a fun way to connect,” Wong said.

Runners sophomore Leila Deskins, junior Eva Jansen, senior Kalina Zheleva, junior Sophie Wong, sophomore Amelia Uphoff, and sophomore Savannah Davis pose for a picture at practice. Pratices take place Monday through Friday, and sometimes on Saturdays.

This October, the team will be racing at Conference. This race includes all the schools they raced against in this season and many other schools. Last year, six runners from the boys and girls teams placed, and this year the team hopes to have even more runners place.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing how much people can improve,” Wong said.

Missouri holds Conference almost every year at McNair park, and last season Wong and Zheleva placed in All Conference, earning themselves medals.

The team’s next meet is Sept. 23 at Arnold Park.