Do you look forward to sleeping in on Saturdays after a grueling week of school? Well, last Saturday, September 11, your CPS cross country team woke up to get to school at 7:00 a.m. to race at the Ed Sias Invitational in Martinez, the first competition of the year. Unfortunately, waking up early was only the first obstacle we encountered – our mighty team of around 60 runners was thinned to about half its size, due to sophomore retreat. Moreover, this was the first time we were racing on this course, so we had to adapt.
Nevertheless, we managed to overcome these difficulties, doing very well in a field of over 2800 runners. The Varsity Women’s team of Brianna B, Carly H, Ally M, Martha C, Sophia D, Micalyn S, and Danna C-G placed 9th out of 30 teams in their race. The Varsity Men’s team of Adam Z, Victor W, Dan M, Sasha M, Jack L, Nick L, and Ethan A placed 6th out of the 30 teams they raced.
As an overachieving CPS student, you might be wondering why we didn’t get first place… But because CPS is a relatively small school, managing to place even in the top 10 is already remarkable – larger schools with thousands of students have a larger pool to pick from, and thus generally end up with faster runners, which schools as small as ours can’t match with our smaller number of student-athletes.
The Ed Sias course was only two miles, a shorter course than our normal 3.1 mile 5k race. However, the hill at the end made up for the lost distance – looming before runners at the end of the race who are already exhausted. Many spectators congregated here, all yelling and screaming, but the hill truly was intimidating – I saw some runners from other races sit down and start crying during their ascent.
On a happier note, congratulations to all the freshmen runners who ran in their first high school cross country meet! It takes courage to join a sport as masochistic as cross country. Returning vets, too, y’all are amazing – great job out there! Shout-out to George Clare-Kennedy and Jack Rosenberg, two dedicated fans who came out to watch us! That’s two more fans than we normally got last year! And a big congratulations to Jack, who decided to run the community race 10 minutes before it started.
Stay tuned for the BCL opener, and congratulate a cross country runner. Then join cross country, if you haven’t already!