Crystal Springs, Belmont – The Valley Christian Warriors began the
championship portion of their season Wednesday at the WCAL Finals at
Crystal Springs in Belmont. The Girls
team finished 6th led by Jessica Xu finishing in 9th place, earning all-WCAL
honors. The Boys team finished 7th led
by Eyobed Mesfun in 23rd place in 16:50, which currently place him sixth
all-time for the Warriors.
The girls team advances to the CCS Championship by hitting the automatic
qualifying time, the boys advance three individuals: Eyobed Mesfun, Alex
Ascencio and Jeremy Dong.
It has not been an easy year for the Warriors who have had to
overcome their share of adversity. The girls’
team lost two top runners early while the boys’ team lost a top runner in
Nathan Lynch who was diagnosed with cancer in October. “This season our runners have faced trials
beyond training, life altering events that make running a personal best feel
insignificant,” Coach Small said. “The
team has done well and remained focused.
The impact of these athletes goes well beyond what they can do for us on
the course and are very involved members of our team.”
Before the WCAL Championship Nathan Lynch addressed the team on senior
night, “Throughout the season, especially the first month, I kept
looking for a reason that I was doing this.
Why was I running anywhere from 5 to 13 miles a day and attempting to
make myself like it? As time progressed
I found reasons here and there that kept me going for the time being, but as
the season went on I gained a wider more detailed view of what cross country is
all about. I discovered that I was
running for a completely different reason entirely. I wasn’t running for
myself, but for all of you.”
“Every single one of you makes it worthwhile to grind
through the speed and hill workouts, the distance runs, the elevation training,
and the morning practices. It is impossible to run by yourself and for
yourself; you will never have any sort of training, or resistance workout, diet
or mentality standing next to you on the line before a race, it’s your teammates
that will be there cheering you on, and running the race with you.”
The Warriors rallied and what resulted was one of the
best performances in school history.
For the first time the boys had all five scoring runners come in
17 minutes or under at the WCAL Championship.
All five boys earned recognition on the top 20 all-time list for the
Warriors with the team setting a school record of combined time. That was no small feat as last year’s team
was led by CCS Champion Sean Davis. It
was a collective effort by all of the boys breaking last year’s mark by
over a minute.
Records were not reserved for the Varsity runners as the
Frosh-Soph boys also set a team record as three boys ran in the 18’s. Dean DeMoss led the charge finishing in
18:31, a top mark for a freshman.
Sophomores Tejas Reddy (18:52), Samuel Han (18:59), Matt Lundy (19:17)
and David Ahmann (19:26) all had breakthroughs of their own.
The girls were in a tight battle for WCAL bragging rights as 3
teams were separated by just 15 points.
Coming off of their 3rd place finish in WCAL #2 the Warriors slipped to
6th but easily hit the qualifying time.
Not to be outdone and setting the stage for the later races of the
day the JV girls collectively crushed their personal bests. A trio of girls dipped under the 23 minute
barrier led by Leia Wang (22:38), Megan Gillespie (22:51 and Morgan Starkey
under the 23 minute barrio for the hilly and challenging course. Improving well over a minute was Anne Yeh who
has blossomed into a strong and confident runner for the Warriors finishing in
23:20. Hannah Lee rounded out the scoring
for the JV girls that was just off of the team record.
In the end it was a solid day for the Warriors as the team
continues to build and grow. It was a
record breaking year not just in performances but in numbers as over 60
athletes gave cross country a try. “From
the Carmel beach day to the Cross Country camp in Tahoe to finishing the season
strong the team really came together as one and ran for one other,” Coach Small
said.
The varsity girls along with individual qualifiers Eyobed Mesfun, Alex Ascencio and Jeremy Dong continue to the CCS Championship on November 10 at Toro Park in Salinas.
The varsity girls along with individual qualifiers Eyobed Mesfun, Alex Ascencio and Jeremy Dong continue to the CCS Championship on November 10 at Toro Park in Salinas.
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