With cross country season underway, this year’s team has what it takes to win it all. 

Led by sophomore Mia Ramirez, the first-year captain and her fellow runners face the challenge of making it to city finals.

The team has performed well above average this season. On Sept. 27, the Wolves ran a two mile race against Canoga Park at Pierce College. They raced exceptionally and snagged the top three places, having sophomore Christine Coronel finish the race in 14:14, freshman Dalia Montoya finish in 15:13 and sophomore Mia Ramirez in 15:18. 

They later lost to San Fernando in a race on Oct. 4, though the team still put up respectable times. The Wolves redeemed themselves by beating out Sylmar’s team in a three mile race. Christine Coronel and Dalia Montoya occupied the top two spots once again, with respective times of 24:29 and 24:34.

As captain, Ramirez sees the work other runners are putting in to bolster their abilities.

“We have a lot of good players this year,” she said. “They’re all putting in a lot of effort. They come to practice and show up on time. You can tell they’re giving it their all.”

Over the past year, the team has lost a number of seasoned players who contributed greatly to their success.

“We lost a lot of seniors and juniors,” Ramirez said. “With that, we lost a lot of players who had the most experience. It’s a younger team, so there is definitely a little bit less experience, but they’re still a really good team and they still perform well. We’re actually doing really well for being a young team.”

Ramirez has full confidence in her runners, even though many of the members are new.

“Our biggest strength would definitely be the fact that this year we have a team that’s very close to each other,” she said. “Everyone works together and pushes each other.”

Athletes who run cross country have practices in both the morning and the afternoon, and frequently run to parks near the school for additional practice.

“Sometimes we do long runs, sometimes we do mile repeats, but usually we just try to work on pacing,” junior Darian Escot said.

Exercises such as mile repeats consist of running a distance at the pace you would in a race, running another stretch at a more relaxed pace and then repeating the process. Using this training method helps runners’ speed increase by turning runs into more manageable segments, allowing their pace to become faster.

The sport is all about keeping a steady pace during a race and being consistent the whole way through. No matter what, runners eventually get tired and have to push through the pain and continue to run. Any kind of pause or slowdown may result in a disappointing time. 

The simplicity of the sport is part of what makes it so challenging. While athletes in other sports have to practice many different techniques and specialized motions, cross country runners have to focus on nothing but running. Thus, the mental battle of the game is as demanding as the physical aspect.“It’s based on determination and who puts in the most work and effort,” freshman Nour Defazio said. “It goes beyond just physicality.”

The abridged version of this article appeared in the Fall 2023 print edition. This is an uncut version.