Chasing Greatness One Meter At a Time: Boys Cross Country

Varsity Boys cross country set a school record at the 2025 CIF Central Section division one championships, placing second overall as a team.The boys share their preparation and mentality as they now look on to the state meet that will take place this Saturday, November 29th at Woodward Park.

By: Fabian Anguiano

Being part of a team that has broken a record not only sticks with you forever, it puts your name in the school history book.

Zackahrie Vargas, ‘26, says “It feels great, it’s something that we’re now part of history.”

“We’ll have the right to say it, our names were there, and it was a team thing we did it together,” said Vargas.

Vargas feels like his performance at the division one championships was the product of the many months of hard work.

“I ran a 16:13 PR of both the course and in general. I ended being the second runner on the team and placed fourteenth overall in valley,” said Vargas.

As the team is preparing for the state meet, Vargas says “Hopefully, we can go out there and place top ten as a team.”

“We have to stay hungry, we can’t let off the gas because we accomplished our big goal of qualifying for state,” said Vargas. “We still gotta go out there and perform and represent Redwood.”

State is one of the biggest stages of them all, and preparing to go against tons of runners from around California can be mentally daunting.

Vargas says he’s preparing for the state meet by “Making sure I’m staying healthy, eating right, practicing right, kind of just standing at what my body needs and what it doesn’t need. If it doesn’t need more work, then it doesn’t.”

Watching the movies Prefontaine or McFarland USA has been keeping Vargas within the whole running mindset 24/7.

Vargas’ dream goal for the team at state is, “To have a top-ten finish, which would be amazing for the program. And just to go out there and get at least the top five guys under sixteen minutes in the 5k.”

Vargas’ dream goal for himself is, “To go out there and get a sub 15:50 in the 5k and to be able to place top 50 overall.”

On how it feels being part of a team that has broken a school record, Jack Arreola, ‘27, says, “It’s a really great feeling, I’m truly blessed that we got to share this goal together.”

At the valley meet, the boys raced in the division one category and Arreola says, “I did really well, I’m proud of myself that I tried my best, and I gave it all, and I got the results that I wanted.”

“While I was racing, it was difficult to navigate through all the mud, so I could have focused a lot more on that, and probably bettered my time,” said Arreola.

The team is preparing for state by “doing some sharpening workouts, not workouts that are going to make us all sore and tired, but more so workouts that are gonna get us ready to go and do good at state,” said Arreola.

Mental preparation is key, Arreola says “I’m going into the race as the same mindset I did for valley, just being content with whatever happens, but I’m going to give my best no matter what.”

With so many teams being at state, there is no idea of how the outcome is going to be for the team.

“I honestly don’t know where we’ll be placement-wise, but I really just want us to all go out and PR,” said Arreola. “And have a good race as a team, hopefully getting another school record doing it.”

For himself, his goal is to get a time under 15:40 for the 5k. He says “I think that would be a really awesome achievement for myself.”

James Gagnon, ‘26, says to be a part of a team that broke a school record “feels pretty good, we worked really hard for it so it just feels good that all that hard work paid off.”

At the valley division one championships, James says “I feel like I performed pretty good, I set a new personal best for that course. I just really pushed myself, so I gave it everything I had.”

“Honestly we’re excited, hopefully we can score and make the top ten or the top fifteen, it’s just another meet and that’s how we’re taking it,” said Gagnon. “Just another week of training and then just a little added bonus I guess, it will be fun.”

Mentally, Gagnon says “This is the last meet that I’m gonna have so I might as well just give it everything. So, that’s just kind of my mentality.”

Gagnon’s dream goal for the team at state is to place top ten, he says “That would be really cool. It is a really tough meet because we are division one and it’s teams from around the state are gonna be there and it’s just tough.”

Gagnon’s dream goal for himself this race is to break sixteen minutes on this course. “I got close last time but I think I can do it this time,” said Gagnon.

Being a freshman on a team that is division one, and broke a school record is really big deal, and to stand out is another thing.

Max Arreola, ‘29, says “It’s just amazing that I’ve been able to experience this as a freshman going to state with the team, and just breaking records.”

At the valley meet, Arreola says “I got my PR so I feel really happy, and I’m glad all the team did well too, and we all raced our hearts out.”

“We’re staying locked in at practice, putting in the work, cooling down when we need to, taking breaks when we need to, and just getting mentally prepared for the day,” said Arreola.

To stay prepared for state, Arreola said “I’m just asking God for strength and boldness to stay encouraged and run how I’m supposed to run. Just stay on top of it and keep working hard.”

Arreola’s dream goal for himself at state is to break 16:30. “I would be really happy,” said Arreola.

Boys head coach Tony Ramirez has already broken several records in the past with cross country and track.

“It just feels amazing, this is what the kids worked so hard for, and it’s very inspirational to me to be their coach knowing that they work so hard everyday.”

Coach Ramirez says, “I think the team was dialed in, and just had a perfect day, I’m not sure if there’s any one thing they could have done any better, everything just came together at the right time.”

“I think there’s no secret to our success, I think we’ve done the things that we’ve done for years in a row now that have been a build up to this as we progress every year.” Said Coach Ramirez. “We’re conducting ourselves as business as usual, and we’re continuing to do the things that have led our current success.”

 Being a coach at state versus being an athlete at state has way different preparation, “It’s always a very exciting time when you can get any individuals to state in our section, so much less a full team, so I think in preparation for that.

He said “I’m just preparing myself to have an open mind to anything that happens. I just want to be there for the boys and coach them as well as I can.”

As a coach, you have to be ready for anything to happen, he says “I’m playing out a lot of different scenarios in my head that we can cover in practice and strategies that we can review.”

“I’m just really proud of the boys, they’ve had a lot of faith all season, they knew that this could be a special year for them,” says Coach Ramirez. “And they just went out and worked hard and got everything that they deserve, so I’m just really proud of them.”

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