The cross country team participated in the Ed Sias Invitational at Hidden Valley Park on September 11. It was the teams 1st official meet since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The meet included neighboring schools like Miramonte, De La Salle, and College Park, and consisted of a 2 mile run around the park in which both girls and boys competed.

”It’s a really fun park to race at because the course has a lot of terrain on it. It’s mostly downhill in the 1st half but you got a lot of good hills in the 2nd half, especially a big hill club finale near the end,” said junior Tobias Barton.

“We got the chance to compete against other schools on the actual same course at the exact same time instead of just running time trials and seeing where we are compared to other teams,” said junior Tai Lee.

The team is excited to be back together, making connections and competing against rivals in-person.

Junior Alex Lodewick said, “Our team is a lot happier now that we can all run together and communicate with freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior classes, but originally during the pandemic only small groups of people could run together.”

Cross Country has continued to practice in small pods during the pandemic and training in the summer. When the season began, the entire team reunited as a whole.

“Most of us have been doing summer training but I think it’s really good to be doing it back in the normal season because it helps us get back in a more solid schedule and that really helps improve your running,” said Barton.

“It feels great… There is definitely a lot more of the team bonding because before it was just… you are with a fraction of the team in a pod to reduce contact… But now we are training as a whole team,” said Lee.
The team did well at the meet, with 5 athletes placing among the top 10. Boys Varsity won in the small school division.
Junior Ellie Buckley also won the lone individual crown, with her time placing her as 3rd on the school board for the 2 mile course.
Lee said, “As a team I think we did very well. There were lots of good performances and improvements across the board among people on the team. And it was a great experience due to the fact that we haven’t had cross country for 2 years with a true competitive experience.”

“I am very excited for the rest of the season… Should be lots of fun and I’m looking forward to it,” added Lee.