Cross Country is one hill of a sport

By Terry Tang

Senior Samantha Tran and sophomore Tyanne Tran are sisters who ran in BVAL (Blossom Valley Athletic League) and are qualified for CCS (Central Coast Section) Cross Country Championship.

S.Tran had been doing cross country since middle school while her sister also joined in middle school to compete with her sister.

“I choose to join cross country because when I was in middle school, I watched my sister run XC and I wanted to be as fast as her and I also wanted t push myself to see what I’m capable of accomplishing!” said T.Tran

“I think this year was a rough season for the team because we didn’t have summer conditioning. It was pretty tough getting back in shape for most of us and adjusting to different workouts with new coaches and all,” said S. Tran

Cross country usually have conditioning in the summer, but this year started on the second day of school. This is the first year that they have not made CCS. Despite not making CCS the team has still managed to maintain their spot in the A-League. The team usually run two miles every day to build up their strength and stamina to prepare themselves for the cross country meets.

“I think our team put our hearts out into the courses and we really did the best we can give the circumstances of not having summer conditioning,” said T. Tran.

“I was surprised that my sister and I made (it into) CCS because competition was really though this season,” said S. Tran.

Cross country meets are usually held at Montgomery Hill. T. Tran’s time was 20:48 with her older sister S. Tran following close behind with a 21:01.

Some of the schools that competed in BVAL included Westmont and Independence. Piedmont Hills is one of the top teams as they are in the A-League.

“We run different distances every day because we usually want to work on different areas to improve our running. An example of this can be like a long run can help improve our endurance while a short run will help improve our speed.” stated varsity cross country runner Alex Sen

This year’s CCS has been delayed two times due to the poor air quality and has been set to Sat. Nov. 17.

Coach Tan Nguyen and Coach Elisa Bryant have experience in running with not only just cross country, but also with track and field, weight training and dieting. They have degrees like kinesiology to help their players and also work out isolation practices in case a player gets injured. Assistant Coach Brandon Nguyen himself is working towards a Kinesiology degree which can help him in future careers like a personal trainer or full time coach.

“The coaches really believe in our abilities and they motivate all of us to push ourselves through our mental barriers. They help build strong team bonds to make us feel more confident as a team. I appreciate them for everything,” said S. Tran.

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