By Hannah Geraghty and Zinnia Khan, Staff Writers
// On Nov. 26, members of the Acalanes Cross Country team attended the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championship at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Acalanes competes in Division Four for cross country, and ran against the other schools in the division.
The women’s team qualified, as well as two men. The seven women who went to the championship were juniors Nina Gehrig and Megan Yee, sophomores Cameron Powell, Charlotte Sutherland, and Sadie Poole, and freshmen Cathryn McCormick and Nevis Murphy. The men that attended the competition were senior Tyler Hunt and junior Logan Farzan.
The Acalanes women’s team placed 19th, while the Acalanes men’s team did not end up placing.
To qualify for CIF, students had to perform well at the North Coast Section (NCS) tournament. The team trained hard in order for them to qualify for CIF, and many runners improved their previous times.
“A lot of us at NCS ended up getting personal records because of how we prepared beforehand,” varsity cross country runner and junior Megan Yee said.
Acalanes students arrived in Fresno the day before the championship, and were able to run the course once before the big day. The course was 5 kilometers, or 3.1 miles, and the distance is equivalent to running 45 laps around a baseball diamond.
Even though it was a big tournament, some of the cross country runners did not feel stressed due to their diligent work to prepare.
“I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be at state because there was really no expectations, [and] because we already had worked really hard to get to state. It was a stress free environment, but it was really fun to be with my teammates, and just to run together for the last time,” Yee said.
Unfortunately, the team was not feeling their best during the championship.
“As a team, we were all really sick, so we didn’t do as well as we probably could have,” Yee said.
While the conditions were not ideal, the runners had a positive outlook on the event.
“I think we all did great, we ran our hardest and whatever happened we were all just happy to be there,” varsity cross country runner and sophomore Charlotte Sutherland said.
Junior Megan Yee was the fastest woman on the team, with a time of 20:13.9, while junior Logan Farzan was the fastest man on the team with a time of 15:42.0.
“I did really well and far surpassed my own expectations. I placed 15th in the Division 4 race with a 5k time of 15:42 which is the 3rd fastest 5k in school history,” varsity cross country runner and junior Logan Farzan said.
Overall, running in the championship served as a positive experience for those who attended, and concluded many runner’s seasons on a high note. “It was the best way to end the season. Looking back on all of it, everyone did so well, and we all pushed each other as well as ourselves to get to states and beat previous times, making it to state just made all of our hard work pay off,” Sutherland said.
Photo by Olivia Williams, Acalanes Studios
Courtesy Photo by Acalanes Cross Country Team