Four years ago in 2021, The Morgan coed cross-country team had a total of 18 boys and 9 girls. Now just four years later, Morgan has 8 boys and 0 girls, highlighting the extremely large 68% decline in participation since 2017.
Every year since 2021, Morgan has lost at least one member. That might not seem like a high number, but with such a small team already, every runner counts.
Coach Jeffrey Duda, who has been head coach of cross-country since 2019, has been through the ups and downs. Coach Duda gave his thoughts on why this has been a problem, “I think between the fact that, A, it’s hard. B, it [running] is often used as punishment. And in other sports, if you make a mistake, if you don’t listen, what do they make you do? Run.”
The most decline was in 2022 when the team lost 11 people going from a total of 27 to just 16 runners and cutting that number in half over the next three years.
Coach Christopher Zawadski has coached the Morgan tennis team for 11 years now and has seen the same kind of decline that cross country has seen. Coach Zawadski gave his opinions on big teams vs small teams.
“More participation means more kids could come together. I feel like practice is more competitive because you fight for a spot. [With small teams] There’s no motivation to work harder and get better because you’re already on varsity.”
Senior captain Anthony Strunjo has been with the team since his freshman year in 2022. Strunjo has shown lots of improvement throughout his career. His first year he ran the 5k in 23:22. This year his best run is 21:46 an improvement of almost two minutes. His numbers show that commitment is a big part of this difficult sport.
On the topic of the decline Strunjo said, “I think it’s just ’cause no one really wants to run anymore, and the idea of just running for a sport doesn’t sound fun to anyone.”
Strunjo is not the only one. Senior captain Owen Lombardi has also been on the team all four years of his career. Lombardi has been a consistent force on the team, especially in his senior year when he finished in the top ten in many smaller races during the season.
“He was middle to the end of the pack. He became the first boy that made the All-Shoreline team,” said Coach Duda.
In 2022 when Owen started, he ran a 21:10 showing a lot of promise as a freshman. This year Owen’s best race is a 17:52, a more than three-minute improvement from his first year.
Coach Duda has been coaching the team since 2019 and has seen the massive improvements that these two have been making.
As well as the two seniors, Morgan has some young talent like sophomores Michael Bowker and Calder Holt as well as freshman Evan LaFrance, Darren Haverkampf, and Austin Tebo.
Coach Duda said, “I think that the future with them is bright. I think if we can get a few more underclassmen to mold with that young group that we have now, I think, it could be pretty good.”
Coach Duda hopes that although the sport is fading in Morgan, it doesn’t have to die out completely. If there was a 68% decrease, there can always be an increase again.
“I wish people would just come out just to enjoy just being active. You don’t have to come out to win a state championship. You can come out just to be active to get in shape,” said Coach Duda.
