GREENVILLE—The Greenville cross country program, directed by veteran head coach Stephanie Lind, held its annual Meet the Team Night at Memorial Hill.
“We have done a good job of bringing kids back, recruiting, and keeping kids engaged in the sport,” said Lind. “It keeps them off the streets, off the phones; they communicate together, and it is something they can do forever – and I hope they love it forever.”
With many athletes out for the 2024 season at the middle and high school levels, Coach Lind looks for a productive year.
“I have a nice senior class,” Coach Lind noted. “They are good leaders for the team, and having a new senior join the team is meaningful to me. She wants to finish out her senior year doing this with us.”
High school cross country does not get the attention of fans as do the major sports, but with family support, the program continues on a healthy path.
“We’re pretty self-sufficient in every regard,” Lind stated. “The parents are amazing. We intentionally build a culture where the kids feel like family; I believe the families feel that way, too. We couldn’t pull off things like the Treaty Invitational without everybody’s help. That’s a huge undertaking.”
“I called the city yesterday and told them I marked a course for our Meet the Team and if you have time to come mow – seven guys from the city showed up, and they did this for us, so it’s the community backing our sports programs and it is kids out here doing good work.”
Dennis Eckstein heads up the Greenville Middle School cross country program and returns four solid eighth-grade boys from a team that finished second in the MVL as seventh graders.
“We have 11 boys out this year,” said Eckstein. “Last year, we had 10, and eight of those 10 were all first-year runners. We have seven new boys this year. Eckstein also expects another good season from the middle school girls.
On the girls’ side, last year, we had seven new runners, and those girls had a phenomenal season,” he continued. “We’re looking forward to another big year this year. Many of them moved on to high school, but we have two girls who could challenge for top honors in the league.”
The prestigious Treaty City Invitational is scheduled for Saturday, August 31.
