By Kaylin Tran
Entertainment Editor
On Nov. 10, the varsity cross country team competed in the preliminary round at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Championships, which was held at the Riverside Cross Country Course.
The boys team placed 17th out of 23 schools and the girls team placed 18th out of 19 schools.
The Riverside course was much more difficult to run at in comparison to other locations due to the terrain and large amount of competitors.
“You would bump into people just by walking around,” stated sophomore Deyra Ojeda, “It wasn’t the best place to run at because there were a lot of holes in the dirt and the air was cold and dusty.”
However, Ojeda did not let the setback affect her performance during the race and remained composed.
Senior Julia Cho made sure that she would run her last race without any regrets and managed to achieve her goal of beating her previous personal record.
Senior Stepfan Ng also wanted to give his best and accomplished his goal of being the top runner. To prepare for the race, he focused on spending the last few practices with his teammates to gain inspiration and relax his mind.
“After I finished competing, I was filled with joy just thinking about how much I progressed over the years,” Ng said.
At League Finals on Oct. 31, 25 boys and 16 girls beat their personal record.
“We had a good performance,” stated Kammerman. “They were able to hit their peak, recover, and run faster than they ever had before.”
As the season went on, the team’s workouts intensified to improve their stamina. After they reached their highest mileage in early October, they focused on fine-tuning their speed in shorter but quicker runs to prepare themselves for League Finals and CIF.
Although this is only Kammerman’s second year as the head coach of cross country, he has gained much experience.
“I have a better idea of what to expect in different parts of the season,” said Kammerman, “Now that I’ve done it once, this season’s been a little easier and less stressful.”
Although the team did not qualify for the final round, head coach Ryan Kammerman is proud of their progress throughout the entire season.
