By: Lucas de Lima
We are now over a month into the cross-country season, and they have been performing extremely well in their meets. The past few weeks have been ramping up in intensity for the team.
All of the teams traveled down to the Porterville Sports Complex for their first East Yosemite League (EYL) meet. Although Dillon Brown ’25 and Thomas Rasner ’25 both prepared well for their meet, they thought they could have performed better.
The boys and girls junior varsity, and the girls varsity all won their respective races at Porterville. The varsity boys team lost in a tiebreaker to the Monache varsity boys team, with both teams having 43 points. Monache got the victory because the sixth runner for Monache finished 31 seconds faster than our Redwood sixth man, giving Monache the slight edge.
Brown says, “I think I did alright, but I could’ve done better. Could have shot for a better [position].”
Rasner felt similar: “I felt like I could’ve pushed a lot more. But, it is what it is,” Rasner says.
Both of the boys prepared differently for their separate races. For his junior varsity race, Brown takes a religious route for pregame, “I pray, I pray with my team,” Brown says.
Rasner on the other hand likes to prepare his muscles before his varsity contest, “I eat well, I usually take a bath with Epsom salt in it to relax my muscles,” Rasner says.
On Saturday, October 8th the Varsity girls and boys teams traveled up to Woodward Park in Fresno on a well-known track with teams from across the valley. This race-track is also the home for the Fresno State Bulldogs cross-country teams.
Hailey Rasmussen ’23 is a newcomer on the squad this year and already got the opportunity to race in this heralded track.
When asked about the event, Rasmussen says, “Woodward Park is a meet that I’ve heard a lot of stories about, so I was kinda nervous going into it, but honestly I feel like it was one of my best races. And I think I PR’d (Personal Record) on that course.”
Rasmussen is proud of her team’s mentality and production this season as of yet. It seems like the cross country teams will be continuing their success throughout the final stretch of the season. Rasmussen says, “I think like it’s you know the team spirit that we have, and like just the dedication towards cross country, and I’m really proud of our team and how we’re doing so far.”
Lucas de Lima
Lucas de Lima, '25, is a proud Sports editor and author for the Redwood Gigantea. Outside of journalism, he is a part of the FBLA and FFA organizations, as well as the tennis program. You can reach him by email at lucas.de3708@vusd.us
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