On a bright, sunny day at the Crystal Springs running course, the Aragon cross-country teams qualified for the CCS Championships. The girls finished third out of 10 and the boys came in seventh out of 17. The Dons had several top finishers, including junior Oma Skyrus, fifth out of 76 in the varsity girls race, and sophomore Ryan McAuliffe, eleventh out of 113 in the varsity boys race. Coach Bill Daskarolis says, “I’m just so proud. Everybody left it on the course, so to speak. They all worked as hard as they could and did as well as they could. That’s all, as a coach, anybody can ask.”
Heading into the PAL championships, the boys placed fifth, sixth, and then fifth in the PAL meets. This left the boys in fifth out of 17 overall, sandwiched between Westmoor (sixth) and Terra Nova (fourth). Sophomore Jeffrey Song says, “The season’s been turning out better than we expected. We came into the season without high expectations since we lost our senior varsity team that made it to states last year. [However], many people have [stepped] up and filled those spots.”
The girls were strong, placing third in all three PAL meets. They were third overall, between Half Moon Bay (second) and Mills (fourth).
All this success does not come without effort: Song runs about 35 miles per week. Song even remarks, “Some of the other varsity boy members have run up to 40 or even 50 miles in one week.” Song adds, “There’s been a ton of improvement this year in the entire team. We have individuals that have been working hard and that hard work is definitely paying off.” Both the M-A and Half Moon Bay teams run a similar number of miles per week, putting the Dons in good company among the high ranked teams in the league.
Next on the radar for the Dons is the CCS Championship Meet, on Nov. 16 at Crystal Springs. For those who qualify, the state qualification meet will be held on Nov. 30 in Fresno.
