By Melissa Smith | Sports Writer

This past weekend, Johnson’s girl’s varsity cross country team took first at the district meet. Originally they were tied with Churchill, but won the tie breaker by resorting to their 6th fastest runner, who got a better time than Churchill’s 6th fastest runner.

“We are all really excited,” junior runner Dani Nelson said.” [We] are preparing for this weekend, which is regionals.”

The team isn’t planning any hardcore workouts to get ready for competition; quite the opposite, the team is kicking back for a few days.

“We started this thing called ‘tappering’ which is where we start backing off on our workouts and going easier, so our legs are fresh for the meet,” Nelson said.

They are striving to place as one of the top 3 teams this weekend; guaranteeing a place at state.

“I really, really, really hope we go to state!” Nelson said. “If we ran like we did last weekend, we’ll have a really good chance.”

Another way of getting ready for the meet is some good ol’ team time.

“We’re having a regional dinner at my house for team bonding, so we can eat healthy 2 days before the game and spend some time together,” Nelson said.

The team runs on Saturday for their chance at state competition.