"The Game Change" - Cross country at East Union

WTVA's Matt St. Jean reports on how the Coronavirus has impacted cross country.

Jean had his stamina tested at this one as he hit the trails with the east union cross country team.

(matt 1) talking to runners now you go ahead, go ahead, i'll catch up.

While cross-country is easy for some, it's also pretty easy to socially distance.

(matt 2) but they still had some obstacles to overcome.

This is the (matt 1) this is the (matt 2) me?

You?

(matt 1) i'll go?

(matt 2) you go (matt 1) this is the game change.

(noah johnson) this year we kind of have to watch what we do, watch every little thing we do that last year and or in previous years has just been routine.

(track) every athlete like senior noah johnson knows, there is nothing routine about the coronavirus era.

East union runners get tested for the virus three times a day.

Once before school, once at lunch, and once before practice.

(nathan mclellen) our school administration and our district administration they've gone above and beyond providing scanners, hand sanitizer, cleaning chemicals, just to really keep us safe.

(track) head coach nathan mclellen and the urchins have taken other precautions as well, like providing individual water bottles instead of water jug stations and they sanitize the weight room after use.

(nathan) we've just done everything we could to keep it normal, but safe at the same time.

(track) much like swim meets, hundreds of cross-country runners compete at meets.

This year, the mississippi high school activities association decreased the number of meets, increased the qualifying standard for runners, required teams to spread out as much as possible and runners have to wear a mask right up until the starting line.

(noah) this year it's been kind of different because we're usually all packed into one group with all the tents and stuff but this year our tents have been spread out so we just had to get used to that.

(track) for cross-country runners, most of them run track in the spring.

They know what it's like to have their seasons stripped away from them.

(nathan) they've been training many months without being able to compete so being able to be healthy and getting them in a season for cross country was real important to us.

(track) next week on the game change, we will shift gears into winter sports and see how basketball teams are getting ready for the fast approaching hoops season.

Reporting in blue springs, matt st.

Jean wtva 9 sports.

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