Every year, the cross country teams take part in a fun Halloween relay in Harvard, IL, about 45 minutes away. Every athlete has a partner, and together they choose a costume and baton for them to wear during the race. Each pair runs three miles total. One person runs 1.5 miles, and then hands the baton to their teammate, who then finishes the other 1.5 miles.

   This year there were many funny combinations, including smurfs, feet, a bride and groom, Phineas and Ferb, the good witch and the bad witch from the Wizard of Oz, and many others.

   “Don’t paint yourself with blue acrylic paint,” said Audrey Seminerio, a sophomore who was one of the smurfs.

   Many of the participants went above and beyond for this race, painting their whole bodies with paint, running in full-length dresses, and many other crazy things.

   Landon Bachta and Brandon Lawson, the bride and groom from the boys team, won first place with a bouquet as their baton.

   Sasha Loge and Taylor Dornbush won “best costume” with their “Ice Ice Baby” outfits. They both wore a white t-shirt that said “ice” on it, and their baton was a baby.

   The “best baton” was won by a pair of chefs from another team, whose baton was a plate of cookies that they passed out while running.

   “I was super surprised that someone actually made cookies to pass out, it was so fun,” said Larkin Blakeney, another sophomore in the girls race.

   This race was a great way to bring people together for a fun time.

   “Everyone had so much fun running it, I’m excited to do it again next year!” said Seminerio.