The Cross Country girls varsity team, along with Coach Chuck Woolridge, held an Academy in the CPAC presenting the NXN Documentary to the student body on January 13. In the lobby, XC athletes gave out HOKA headbands and raffle tickets. With the raffle tickets, participants of the academy were able to win sponsored prizes; such as HOKA shoes, North Face jackets, shirts, and more.

NXN, formally known as Nike Cross Nationals, is an invitational 5k race at Nike Headquarters held from December 1st to December 4th, 2022. For reference, a 5k race is equivalent to 3.1 miles. The documentary, filmed by Woolridge, showed the girls’ thought process from getting into the competition to crossing the finish line.

Being 1st in their section, and 2nd in state, Campolindo Girls Cross Country had the right numerical statistics to put them in a good spot for admission into the race. When asked about her experience and traveling for sports, junior Rachel Moen said, “It was a really exciting experience because I’d never done something like this before. Nationals were a huge deal, especially going to Portland for a high school sport. It was a huge accomplishment for our Cross Country team and myself too.”

The team’s hard work did not go unnoticed by the documentary’s viewing party, inspiring many such as freshman Arianna Bustamante who said, “I thought that [the documentary] showed good insight into what it’s like to travel as an athlete… you got to see the perspective of people who work really hard for someone they love.”

Throughout the experience, XC found themselves always moving even when there was no race preparation at the immediate hand. The girls’ busy schedule included a tour of Nike Headquarters and a trial on Nike’s race track.

The day of the race was not as much a daunting task for the team as it was an emotional challenge. Before the race, the group had a talk to discuss what they wanted to achieve from the race. Looking back at the race through the film, Moen said, “While watching it, I was getting the same nerves that I had right before I was going to race. I think that the documentary captured every emotion that we were feeling… as I felt the same nerves and excitement.”

The XC Documentary ended with a reflection from junior Shea Volkmer saying, “[I felt that] we really showed everyone what our team was capable of, which was really incredible.” In her thoughts for the upcoming year she said, “…if we did this this year, then we can do it next year. I’m really excited to see what we can do with this picture.”