Visalia, CA- On Saturday, September 30th, Redwood Placed 2nd in both Men’s and Women’s Varsity in the annual Golden West Invitational. Ellie Atashkarian ’24, Zack Vargas ’26, and Andres Nino ’27 speak on the team’s performance and successes at the start of the season.
By: Erik Rico and Cody Abney
Races started at 10:30 a.m., with the Boys Varsity starting first and the Women’s Varsity going second at 10:55 a.m. Atashkarian ended up placing 9th for all girls and second for Redwood Girls Varsity. Atashkarian says, “The last meet was really good for me, and the team got a really good feel of the course that is to come for the EYL (East Yosemite League) Championship.”
Courtesy of Redwood XC
Atashkarian recorded a time of 20:54.70, however, she says that her goal for the year is 19 minutes in the 5K (3.1 miles) race. She says she was “hoping to reach my PR (Personal Record), and lead my team to winning against Mt. Whitney because the meet before that meet we lost to Mt. Whitney for the first time in about a decade.”
The Ranger Cross Country team’s practice is a 24-hour process, meaning that whatever they eat, how long they sleep, and what else they do during the day can impact how they do during practice and the meets.
Zack Vargas, ’26, says “I take a good shower in the morning, I eat breakfast, and I usually come down 30 minutes before the race listening to music to get in the zone.”
Vargas goes on to say that the team usually has harder workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays, but the “aerobic” runs come on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then the day before the meet they take it easy.
Vargas placed 8th in the Varsity Boys race with a time of 17:01.40 and was 3rd out of all the boys on Redwood Varsity.
Courtesy of Redwood XC
Andres Nino ’27, a newcomer to Varsity, has already made a huge impact on the team in just his freshman year of his Cross Country career. Nino says, “I feel like I did good, I PR’d in my race, and I made it to 10th place and 4th for varsity.”
Nino also adds that the team is working super hard throughout the week by having 2 hard workouts a week. However, he says, “I feel like I have improved a lot, and I feel like I got faster and my mile time has gone down.”
The team always looks to go into every meet with a positive mindset and attitude; they want to be excited for a race instead of being anxious. Atashkarian makes sure to “get some rest and carb up the night before.” She also goes on to say, “I make that I’m nice and calm and relaxed as I say, calm running is happy running.”
Erik Rico
Erik Rico '25, is a first year journalist for the Redwood Gigantea. He plans to live in the sports section hoping to cover all aspects of Redwood Athletics. His hobbies include baseball, football, and traveling. He looks forward to attending as many Ranger Athletic events as possible.
Tags: Cody Abney, Erik Rico, rangers, Redwood, redwood cross country, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, redwood sports, redwood xc, rhs, visalia ca