XC Takes On Sulfur at Coyote Hills

Coyote Hills: the grueling 2.5-mile cross country course defined by sulfur and the Grinder. Over 150 runners competed on this course at our League meet on Tuesday, September 20, beginning their race on a field full of dozens of foot-deep holes. The middle mile of the course, situated on the side of a cliff, challenged the racers with a strong headwind and choking sulfuric fumes from the Bay. Seconds after escaping the toxic smell, the runners were confronted with a 600 meter-long hill, the Grinder.

Despite these harrowing challenges, your cross country teams traveled to and raced at Coyote Hills – not once, but twice. The first time, after a long three-day weekend, was our first League race, where both teams dominated. Not only were your Cross Country teams plagued by the challenges of the course, we also had to fight a literal plague: many members of the team were sick and others were injured and couldn’t race at all.

Despite all of these

setbacks, we came through and both the boys and the girls took home first place! With a victory already under our belts (or our short shorts), we looked forward to the next race – the Redwood Christian Invitational, also at Coyote Hills.

The second race was only for the JV runners; the varsity runners went to the track for a workout, starting to rest up for the Stanford Invitational this Saturday. Despite the loss of their Varsity runners, both the boys and girls teams took 2nd place on this 2.5-mile course. Both teams lost to Head-Royce, but finished ahead of three other schools. In fact, the girls lost to Head-Royce by only 2 points! Two members of the girls’ team unfortunately threw up, beset by the putrid sulfuric stench, and were unable to finish the race. If they had, the girls would have had a shot at winning first place. Never underestimate the might of a cross country course!

Although we brought only our JV teams, the other schools brought both their JV and Varsity – in the words of Isaac L. (‘19), “That’s why CPS didn’t get first as usual!” Just to be clear, CPS JV almost took first place in a race competing against Varsity runners! Overall, both races at Coyote Hills demonstrate the incredible talent, depth, and dedication of the team this year. With such a strong start to the season, the team can’t wait to see what it can accomplish at meets in the future! Stay tuned, and wish a runner good luck for our next race on Tuesday, October 4, in Hayward!