By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  Over the last few days the McKay Cross Country team has been taking advantage of some time down to heal up for the next long haul in front of them.

“It feels kind of nice,” said Marquita Ritchey.  “Because it felt like we’ve been constantly running and having a little bit of a break.  We’re having hard workouts, but they’re not as hard anymore because they’re getting easier and easier.  So the break is nice, the workouts are getting easier which is good.”

With these last few days, it gave the team an opportunity to focus on their strengths and build off that with their young dynamic that they have.

“I like it, we’ve had a few challenges this year that we haven’t had to figure out in the past, which is great because we have a young team,” started Head Coach Arch Zellick.  “It’s fun learning the dynamics of a young team and see where our strengths are and getting that together.

“So we got a couple things these last couple of weeks and the team is really coming together and we got some really good potential that we hope to unlock.”

Their next test is Wednesday afternoon when they host an Greater Valley Conference meet that will feature West Salem and McNary.

The excitement on hosting an event is there and the opportunity to impress and showcase their talents is there as well.

“I’m excited, I’m pumped,” said Ritchey. “We got a bunch of kids on Varsity who are going to do great, JV kids are going to be great.  We’re going to be awesome, we’ve been out here working hard, I think we’re going to do it.”

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