The Girls’ Cross-Country Team Instagram, ChicksWithKicks, has reached viral status in the last year. Together, they’ve garnered hundreds of millions of views, attained over 3,800 followers, and secured an ambassadorship with a running apparel company.
The Instagram account features the group of student-athletes who post fun videos for a social media audience. As of April 30, 2026, their most popular video has 66 million views and 237 thousand likes. This video shows a slow pan of the girls lined up wearing different patterns of ChickNLegs running shorts with the text, “guess who didn’t read the group chat.”
Most of the girls on the team have been featured in a ChicksWithKicks post at least once. However, some faces appear more often than others. To be in a video, members of the team usually suggest different video ideas and then film them at breaks in between practices or meets.
Sophomore Leela Desai is a runner on the Girls Cross-Country team and has been involved in making several videos for the Instagram account.
“It’s really fun,” Desai remarked. “We often have to do a lot of takes, though, because we always mess up.”
Desai also shared that ChicksWithKicks’ Instagram audience metrics show that most users who watch and interact with their videos are just like them, teenage and young adult women.
During the indoor winter season this year, senior Ruby Mercer applied for an ambassadorship with running shorts company ChickNLegs after being a fan of their functional design and colorful patterns. ChickNLegs has been very active at cross-country and track meets providing everyone with discounts and free gifts.
ChicksWithKicks was initially started in 2024 by former student Makenna Trainor when she was on the track and cross-country team. After Trainor graduated, she passed down the ChicksWithKicks Instagram to Mercer, who has been running it ever since.
Desai shared that the inspiration for ChicksWithKicks began with watching other videos from different run accounts.
“We were always getting videos on our Instagram feeds, and we were like, ‘Wait, this would be so cool if we could do that too,’” Desai said. “‘We’re a Cross-Country team, we’re girls who are all really close, we’re all friends. Let’s start a joint Instagram page.’”
As of now, Mercer and junior Bhavya Chidambaranathan share the responsibility of running the account. The two of them share ideas for new videos by sending reels or audios to each other. The ultimate goal of their partnership is for Chidambaranathan to take over the page after Mercer graduates this year. Following suit, this time next year, Chidambaranathan will likely be preparing to pass down the mantle once again to one of the current sophomores on the team.
Chidambaranathan expressed her appreciation for the tradition they’ve started of passing down the ChicksWithKicks Instagram. When asked about what she’d like to see from ChicksWithKicks next year, Chidambaranathan shared her vision for the future.
“I think it’s going great as it is now, but I definitely think we should get more of the team involved, because right now it’s mainly just like the same few people,” Chidambaranathan commented.
If you’re interested in joining the fun, follow @ChicksWithKicksPville on Instagram
