The runners line up at the start, 3.1 miles ahead lies the finish. The starting pistol is fired and the runners bolt from the start, trying to reach the end as fast as possible. The royal blue wave of people supporting their Royals is on their feet the whole meet. Many schools are at the meet, everyone trying to get the fastest times to bring their school victory. The coveted 1st place prize is up for grabs as several rival schools are also at the meet. Every runner matters, all trying to cross the finish line as soon as possible. HSE student and athlete Benjamin Butler is a cross country runner for Hamilton Southeastern High School. He was a member of the Junior Varsity team in his freshman and sophomore years at Hamilton a Southeastern. In his free time Butler likes to watch netflix, hang out with friends and play video games.

Butler running at a cross country meet for HSE in 2020

Butler and many other Cross Country runners enjoy the team aspect, as they all support each other through their many races. Butler enjoys participating in cross country at Hamilton Southeastern as he says “I enjoy running for HSE because of the team aspect and improving my time as I get better“ The HSE cross country team certainly works very hard to constantly get better as Butler and the team have five to six practices a week. Butler and the team’s hard work certainly paid off as HSE won first in several meets such as the Wildcat Classic Invitational where HSE scored an incredible 35 points to beat Noblesville by one point and place first out of the seventeen high school teams competing in the invitational that day.

Many athletes struggle to find time for school work because of their tight schedule with sports. Butler though, realizes the importance of balancing sports and school as he says “It can be difficult to balance cross country and school because of the after school weekend time commitment but grades are always important“. It is very important to succeed in the classroom regardless of if you are an athlete or not, and Butler understands the importance of that. From training in the summer, to 5 or 6 practices a week, to the intense meets, cross country definitely isn’t an easy sport. But with Butler’s dedication to the sport, and dedication to academics there’s no doubt Butler will have a bright future at Hamilton Southeastern both at cross country, and as a student