GREENHILLS CROSS COUNTRY GOES THE DISTANCE
As the 2024-2025 season of cross country winds down, the Greenhills team has a lot to be proud of. This year the Gryphons moved to a new region, introducing fresh competition. The girls squad has seen a resurgence, and the boys and girls teams both had outstanding showings at last weekend’s Catholic High School League (CHSL) championship—including a second place team finish for the boys and third for the girls, as well as the first place girls individual finisher. Now, the team is turning its focus to this weekend’s regional championship and state finals in November.
Preparation for the season started in June, and all summer athletes put in miles, cross trained, and worked on building up their base. First-year head coach Katie Sims ’11, who has been with the team since 2022 as an assistant coach, places a lot of value on effort. At practice, she expects them to give 100 percent of what they’re able to give that day. She also works to ensure that being part of the Greenhills team is a fun, positive experience for all. With this philosophy, she says, they’ve been able to achieve great success.
“My top goal for the season is to have healthy, happy athletes,” says Sims. “Our goal is to win and build on the success of our program, but that only happens if the athletes are enjoying and fully committed to the work they put in.”
This year, a group of young, up-and-coming runners are setting the pace and stepping into leadership roles for the girls team. Freshman Addison Gregg has been a standout and leading by example, including placing first or second at most of this year’s league jamborees and finishing first at the CHSL championship. Additionally, junior Janaan Rehman earned the title of team captain, and Sims has been impressed with her leadership and dedication, noting how she, along with senior co-captains Howei Ding and Mason Stranahan, upholds the team’s tradition of success and creates an environment where every athlete can thrive.
The boys team is also proving to be a team to beat this year. Led by Stranahan and junior Henry Beck, who consistently finished in the top five during the regular-season jamborees, the team built on strong performances at league jamborees throughout the season and secured second place at the CHSL championship.
There is a deep pool of talent on the girls and boys teams, and athletes compete to be one of the seven runners coaches can enter into each varsity race. Speed is certainly one of the biggest considerations, but character—maintaining a positive attitude, leading by example, and working hard—also factors into the equation because this is ultimately a team sport. And though boys and girls compete separately, Sims tries to embrace the coed nature of the team as much as possible.
“There have been several big shifts recently that have allowed us to become a more cohesive coed team,” says Sims, noting a significant number of graduates last year and a change in long-time coaching staff. “Cross country is such a unique sport—many people think of it as an individual sport, but it’s such a team-oriented sport. And it’s a sport that can easily carry on beyond high school.”
Overall, Sims says she is happy with the season thus far, and is excited to see how it wraps up in the coming weeks. The regional championships will take place this Saturday, October 26, followed by the state championships on November 2 at Michigan International Speedway. Of course, it isn’t over until the team-favorite alumni run through Parker Mill County Park at Thanksgiving.
