If you’re competing in any fall sport, or have sat in the Stu after school, you’ve probably seen the Boys' Cross Country team running across campus on Fridays with a shopping cart, blaring speaker, and a “MAXC” flag waving proudly in front of them. But why do they do this? How did this tradition start?
According to captain of Boys' Cross Country HT Xue ’26, “cart run started in the late 2000s.” He added that the team “found a cart by the road and started collecting things to put in it.” Today, Boys’ Cross Country pushes the cart for “just over a mile,” making a full loop around campus before finishing their run on the track.
Along the way, the team is sure to bring the energy to every corner of Milton. “Before every meet, we run the cart around campus and cheer for all the other Milton teams practicing, playing, or warming up,” said Will Nass ’26, another member of Boys’ Cross Country. “The whole goal is to be as loud as possible.
Inside the cart lies a “random assortment of things the team has found over the years or little traditional pieces,” Nass said. He mentioned that the shoes of former Boys’ Cross Country captain Gabby Guerrero '24, are in the cart.
A longstanding rivalry has kept the tradition interesting: “it’s always been a thing where the girls steal the boys’ cart,” said Rhia Patel ’26 of Girls’ Cross Country.
Last year, the girls “stole [the cart] by having a parent ask facilities to open our locker room door,” Xue explained. “It’s always a game to see if they can get the code to our locker room to steal it. But using facilities was kind of just cheating in our eyes, so this year we tied the cart to a pole with a bike lock so they can’t steal it anymore.”
Patel laughed when recalling the back-and-forth antics. “Last year we got the actual cart,” she said. “This year it was padlocked to the locker rooms, so instead we decorated [the locker room] pink. Then the boys got back at us—they put pictures of themselves up in our locker room. Don’t really know what the purpose of that was, but they did do that.”
Despite the mischief, both teams see the cart’s antics as something that unites them. “Aside from stealing the cart, the girls and boys teams have a really good bond,” Patel said. “We have all our meets together, we see each other race, and we practice sometimes on the track together. People are always cheering one another on, and at the end of each meet, we all sing together.”
The tradition even extends beyond cross country: “Traditionally, during cart run, Wolfpack stops practice to join the ending of their run on the track right before they stretch near the field goal,” said Shyla Aluwalia ’26 from Varsity Girls’ Soccer.
Next time you see the orange and blue “MAXC” flag waving on a Friday afternoon, take a moment to cheer them on—you’re witnessing a piece of Mustang tradition in motion.