Season Recap: Cross Country

The cross country team competed at the third Peninsula Athletic League meet at the Crystal Springs Cross Country course. Although the Dons were short four runners due to injury, both the boys and girls were able to place third. The girls team ran against 32 teams, and the boys competed against 58 teams.

Senior Emma Madgic placed highest from the girls team. She ranked second out of 82 people, running 2.95 miles in 18:42 and beating her personal goal.
From the boys team, senior runner Noah Strause ranked 15 out of 104 people in the varsity race with a mile pace of 5:42. In the freshman and sophomore race, freshman Zachary Low ran at a pace of a 5:49, one of the fastest times on the team, and placed first in the frosh-soph division out of 179 runners.

During the meet, 23 new personal records were made, the highest amount out of the whole season so far. In cross country, if the team makes the top eight in PAL championships, which will be held in Crystal Springs, they qualify for the Central Coast Sections. If they are one of the top three teams at the CCS meet, they can compete at the state finals meet, the last meet of the season. Based on the team’s success so far, head coach Frank Hunt believes that they have a good chance at competing in the state championships.

“If they do it they would be the second team ever from Aragon to run at the state championship. Two years ago we had the girls team run, and three years or four years ago we had the boys team go to the states championships,” Hunt said. “Presuming we make the CCS, I think both teams will [make state championships]…we’re doing pretty good.”

During the cross country team’s first PAL meet at Half Moon Bay, the boys placed third out of 63 teams while the girls placed sixth out of 32 teams. Ten new personal records were set.

At the second PAL meet at Oceana High School, the boys were fourth out of 59 teams and the girls first out of 31 teams. Many runners improved their times, including junior Nautalie Hemmat who beat her record by 90 seconds.

At the Aragon Center meet at the Crystal Springs cross country course, the girls placed first out of 15 teams and the boys placed second out of 26 teams.
Freshmen Caitlin Clark and Zachary Low have been recording fast times and contributing to their team’s success. During their first meet at the Lowell Invitational, both ran a 2.13 mile race. Clark ran at a pace of a 7:01 per mile and placed seventh out of 206 girls, while Low ran at a pace of a 5:52 per mile and placed third out of 212 boys in the frosh-soph division.

Hunt said the cross country team has been working at practice to prepare for their meets, focusing on endurance, strength and speed.

“We run hills, [which] we call hill repeats,” Hunt said. “This driveway is about two hundred meters up and we do hill repeats on that, or we go to Notre Dame, a hill over at the alley.”

To maintain their endurance before the season began, many athletes trained three days a week over the summer as a team, in addition to individual training.
One of the most imperative factors for cross country runners is staying in shape. As they practice, however, the runners are careful to avoid injury.

“The struggle usually comes in the form of not being in shape. They would have to get in shape to otherwise build endurance,” Hunt said. “Typically the freshman, someone that’s new to the team, getting into shape is probably the biggest issue endurance wise. As far as struggles are concerned, I think it’s the most typical to have people get ultimately injured.”

The freshman are becoming more accustomed to high school competition. Freshman Danielle Sipes has felt tension during her first meets, but tries to occupy her mind during races and focus on passing other runners.

“It’s challenging but I enjoy it,” Sipes said. “I just injured myself, so I’m going to be out for a week or so, but I want to recover well and work [and] improve my time in future races.”

The Dons are looking to perform well at the PAL Championships at Crystal Springs on Nov. 3.