MVHS cross country raced against 12 other high schools in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Crystal Preview meet on a 2.95 mile course at Crystal Springs. On Oct. 2, Senior Rohan Choudhury placed fourth in the varsity boys division with a time of 16:05.4. Senior Jenny Xu ran a personal record of 18:21.6, ranking second for all varsity girls. The MVHS varsity boys placed fifth and the MVHS varsity girls placed first out of all of the schools.
The League Championships on Nov. 4 will take place at the same location, so the team used this opportunity to plan their strategy for the bigger race. Special challenges this course posed are the hills and the heat. Coach Kirk Flatow warned that unwary runners tend to speed up downhill the first half-mile, then are unable to climb the uphill later on. Some members of the team worked on their own areas needed for improvement and set goals for the race.
“My goal this year is to win CCS,” Choudhury said before the race. “so it’s important to practice getting in front. I’m starting to get a general race plan worked out.”
The heat affected many of the runners and dehydration was a problem every participant of the race endured. Several ambulances crowded around the finish line to help any runner that may collapse.
“There’s something about racing on a dust road trail for three miles,” sophomore Kelly Bishop said. “The heat seems to radiate up. You just inhale dust. It makes you uncomfortable.”
Due to the heat, runners reported not doing as well as they normally would have. Huge beads of sweat dripped down team members’ faces after the race as they quickly replenished themselves with water.
“I feel like I’m in a daze,” said junior Madeleine Yip. “The heat makes it dream-like.”
Overall, this course was a way for the team to think more seriously about racing. The runners did not push themselves to their limits, but ran moderately to learn how to tackle the upcoming League Championships in a month. The heat and the fact that the runners are not supposed to give their best efforts makes the race a tempo run, unlike a regular race which adversaries strategically plan locations to sprint.
“It’s was just good to get out and get to know the course again,” Bishop said.
The next meet is the Artichoke Invitational at Half Moon Bay on Saturday, Oct. 4.
