On Saturday, Nov. 10, the Aragon boys and girls cross country teams attended the CCS Finals at Toro Park, Salinas. Though expected to finished seventh, the boys team finished second, advancing to state finals for the first time as a team in Aragon history. The girls finished sixth.
This accomplishment follows a season initially plagued by athletes unable to run due to injuries. Both teams suffered a slow start for both the PALs and CCS.
Before the season even began, the top two runners of the boys team reported injury problems. The top CCS returner, senior Rory Beyer, who qualified for CIF State Finals last year, was out for half the season due to an overuse injury on his Achilles tendon. Another highly anticipated CCS returner, senior Christian Pedro has been out for the most of the season due to a foot injury.
With the top two runners sitting out, the boys team was off to a slow start once the season began.
“At our first couple of meets, compared to the teams in CCS, we were ranked first in our division, Division II, and ranked fourth out of all five divisions. But, after the first couple of weeks, we weren’t even ranked in the top twenty of all divisions anymore because we’ve just had bad showings in the beginning. We were ranked fourth with me and Christian running, so our injuries have really affected the team’s standings,” says Beyer.
Despite the initial setbacks, Beyer comments, “We’ve been doing good [in the season]. We’ve had a lot of guys step up who I didn’t expect to run as fast as they are now.”
Similar to the boys team, members of the girls team also experienced health problems. During the latter part of the season, senior Kathryn DeWitt began experiencing breathing problems, which affected her races.
Assistant Coach Frank Hunt says, “Although there have been a lot of different issues, the teams have made excellent progress…In the girls team, Katherine Chinn has been the senior cornerstone of the group. She, along with her co-captain Kathryn DeWitt, provide excellent examples to the underclassmen on the team. There have also been many surprises. For instance, newcomer Zoe Barrie, a freshman with an outstanding soccer background, has made an immediate impact on this group with several outstanding performances.”
