Cross Country Weather

Distance running is all about dealing in discomfort, often time that comes in the form of difficulty during a race, but sometimes it is dealing with factors outside of your control and remaining focused on the task at hand. The Wildcats had opportunities to do both at The Doug Cherry Steelman Invitational on Saturday. A weather delay, a torrential downpour mid race, another weather delay, muddy conditions, the meet had everything.

The frosh/soph girls got things kicked off. The girls all ran strong races after a long time sitting in the bus and then an abbreviated warm up routine. The Wildcats had three athletes that were making their XC debut. All three ran with guts and toughness, and the future looks very bright for all three. Evelle Irenio, Angelena Alverez and Camila Trujillo all added their names to the long list of Wildcat XC runners. Congratulations girls!

The frosh/soph boys were next up, they were led by a pack of 3 up front. Caden De Graaf made a big move at the half way point to be the top finisher for the Wildcats, running a big negative split and just miss a sub 18 minute performance. Sebastian Fuglestad also jumped at the opportunity to mix it up with his teammates and he came away with a nice little PR as well.

The varsity girls were led by Brooke Rochacz who earned a medal finishing in 15^th place overall, with a time just off her lifetime PR. Poppy Hohman was next in, dropping a little over 20 seconds from her PR last week. Sam Norville continues her steady performance as the team’s number 3 runner with another PR.

The varsity boys race saw a huge storm cell roll in with about a mile to go. Diego Arce helped the team with a new lifetime PR as the team’s number 4 runner. Will Carter stepped up in his varsity debut and made the decisions to roll with his teammates and it paid off with a nice new PR.

The open had to deal with a few delays before their chance to race. The guys had a few big breakthroughs. Joseph Santa Cruz dropped nearly 2 minutes off his PR, in just his third XC race, he has a big future ahead. Blake Miller dropped a 1 second PR as well. The big race of the day was from Vlad Montes who dropped 2 and a half minutes to break 30 minutes for the first time.

The team is back in action next Saturday in Peoria.