Two years ago, the Skowhegan cross country team was down to just four members.
A lot can change in two years.
The River Hawks have seen a surge in participation under second-year coach Isaac Michaud, growing to nearly 20 runners, winning meets last season and building a close-knit family atmosphere that they hope can keep powering them forward.
Last year, the Skowhegan boys and girls won the same meet for the first time in the 43-year history of cross country at the school, according to the Skowhegan athletic department. It was a dramatic shift from the previous season, and the River Hawks keep growing and keeping looking to build on that momentum.
“Two years ago, it was hard to find the athletes to want to participate,” Michaud said. “And then I worked really hard to recruit the kids that joined us last year.”
It doesn’t hurt that Michaud teaches at the school, and has been encouraging students to join the team. Existing team members have also been working to recruit their classmates.
“And then we just started working hard to practice, started to realize that we did have a chance to perform well,” Michaud said.
Junior Jillian Lathrop has experienced it all along the way as one of the small group of four runners from two years ago.
“Seeing us grow from four to almost 20 is amazing,” Lathrop said about the team coming back from the brink. “With all of us joining and having fun, it’s really great to see.”
Lathrop said Michaud has helped bring many of the athletes to the team and has made it fun in the process.
“I’ve thought about it a lot, how far we’ve come, and I’m proud of our whole team,” Lathrop said. “I’m proud of our coach, because he’s a great coach. He’s got a lot of us onto the team and he’s kept us going.”
Senior Anthony White is in his second year running on the cross country team, which he said feels more like a family — a family that they are trying to keep growing.
“As good as it is right now, we are trying to build more,” White said.
That means trying to recruit more teammates so that the team is big enough to consistently place at meets.
Freshman Elliott Masterman is one of the new arrivals this year, and he described some of the training the River Hawks are doing as they work to move up the leaderboard this season.
“We’ve just been training super hard and just trying to work our butts off in a sense to shave every last second down,” Masterman said.
That included a recent run up and down nearby Bigelow Hill.
The Skowhegan squad is also training for its first home meet in five years, now that the team has seen a resurgence.
“The team’s just been so small, it’s easier to go to other locations,” Michaud said. “But because we’ve been able to build the team, other schools are more interested in actually coming to our course and racing against us here.”
That first meet will take place during Skowhegan homecoming later this fall.
The new team members are already feeling right at home. Just ask sophomore Natalie Slover.
“It’s amazing and I’m very excited that the team has grown this much, even though I wasn’t on the team when it was just the four people,” Slover said. “But I just feel so much pride in being on this team.”
Junior Gabriell Hall said Michaud has “been bugging me since track season” to give cross country a try, and though she’s used to shorter distances, she’s already enjoying the change of pace.
“It also got me out of my comfort zone a lot since I don’t really run for this long of a distance normally,” Hall said. “And I really do like it. Even though it can be hard.”
What was once a hard road for the entire Skowhegan cross country team is starting to look much easier, as they gain members and gain confidence heading into another season.
