Glen Rock High School has recently gained a fierce competitor on the girls’ cross country team.

Freshman Alexandra Walter has been running since the fourth grade. “I was starting to train for like soccer and stuff and then I found out that I liked running better,” Alexandra said.

Alexandra did not just pick up the sport this year. She started running Cross Country in Middle School. “Our coaches were amazing and I loved it so much,” she recalled.

Alexandra did not think the transition from Middle School cross country to High School cross country was that difficult or different. “It wasn’t a big difference because everyone was like so welcoming. It’s like we’re all a big group of friends. It’s all fun, we all have fun together and all the coaches are so nice,” Walter said.

She enjoys High School cross country just as much as she did in Middle School. “I like both of them equally because everybody is just so nice and amazing and they’re just so much fun to be around,” Walter said.

Garrett, Darlington, and Holmdel are the three locations where Alexandra makes her cross country abilities shine through.

“About half of our races are at Garrett Mountain and the other half are at Darlington and if we do very well, then we go to like The Bergen Meet of Champions, we might go to Holmdel,” Walter explained. Alexandra likes Darlington the best, though.

“I like Darlington better than Garret because Garret has a hill at the end that’s not fun,” she said.

Alexandra not only likes the running aspect of the sport, but also the people who help her throughout the course of the season. “I have Ms. Gallo and Ms. Grady and they’re all so amazing. They are like the best coaches,” Alexandra says.

The young up-and-coming cross country star plans to achieve many goals throughout her career at Glen Rock High School, not only for herself, but for her team as well.

“For myself I want to break twenty, but I want our team to do very well because we have a very, very strong girls team so that’s like a big goal,” Alexandra explained. She also plans on running cross country in college if she can.