ZOOM! Tiffany Pham sprints down the trail.
Photo courtesy of Ian Tippetts
By Elaine Zhang
This Wednesday, Girls Cross Country raced their last league meet at Montgomery Hill. Now their league standings are 2-3 for Varsity and 4-1 for JV.
“I think we actually did pretty well overall,” recalls reserve member Tiffany Pham. “I saw a lot of the times as they were recorded down, and definitely a lot of us made (Personal Records). The Varsity and JV girls did especially well.”
The top seven girls will attend an invitational meet tomorrow at Mount Sac, which is in Southern California.
The team has been training since summer, running four to seven miles every practice. The Varsity team has increased its training from last year in hopes of becoming league champions. They have been practicing a lot on Alum Rock in order to prepare for the meets at Montgomery, which has a lot of hills. The Varsity team has morning practices on Mondays and an extra practice on Wednesdays after school.
“We have a lot (more) tougher workouts. We added a lot more mileage,” explains Pham. “We have left out some stuff. We are staying in more of one area this time; last year, we would go out in other directions too.”
Despite the hard workouts, the members still can laugh together and enjoy running.
“The whole team in general is pretty close,” says Varsity member Kimberly Licea. “It’s very welcoming. Even though you’re running as individuals, there’s still a big family feeling.”
“I got 99 problems, and running causes about half of them, but it solves the other half,” jokes Varsity member Sophia Xiao.
This new season brought changes to the team as new runners joined.
“I didn’t expect to be on Varsity the first year of cross country, so I’m really happy about that,” confesses Varsity member Kimberly Licea. “It’s fun.”
Returning members also continue to enjoy the sport.
“I feel so accomplished running cross country for four years,” says reserves team Captain Holly Hancock. “That’s what’s important.”
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