Running Towards The Chip: Boys Cross Country EYL Championships

With the East Yosemite League Cross Country Championships upon us, four cross country runners share their expectations for themselves and the team.

By: Fabian Anguiano

The Cross Country season went by in a blink of an eye, though a lot can be done in that span.

Senior James Gagnon, ’26, expresses how this season has been the their best out of others, he says “We are a solid team and we are ranked second in Division one, so that’s a pretty high achievement.”

Gagnon and the team have been preparing for the EYL championships by, “Working really hard, we have our sights set on EYL championships but hopefully we get to go to state. That’s kind of the bigger picture so we are still continuing to work hard, it’s an everyday thing.”

With the possibility of rain during the competition, he says “Honestly, it’s gonna be fun, we’re kind of excited for that we’ve never ran in the rain before, hopefully we don’t slip or anything but it seems like it’s going to be fun, so we’re actually excited.”

Gagnon’s expectations for the team at the EYL Championships are, “Honestly, I think it should be close to a sweep; we should hopefully get one through five. Really, the only competition we have is Porterville, which they have one guy, so we’re expecting to do really well.”

“For myself, right now I’m like the two or the three on the team,” said Gagnon. “So hopefully I’m trying to stick with our number one guy and just do the best I can honestly.”

Senior Zackahrie Vargas, ‘26, says “So far this season I feel like I have done pretty good, but obviously the job’s not finished. I know there’s a lot more potential that I have in me, so there’s a lot more to be done that I can do.”

“As a whole, we’ve done incredible, we’re second in division one valley as of right now,” said Vargas. “We have an outstanding team, chemistry’s all there, and it’s just like a brotherhood right there, it’s like a family.”

Vargas says the team and him have been preparing for the EYL championships day by day.

“We go through our aerobic runs together, our workouts together, and recovery runs together. Just making sure we’re on the same page in order to win championships like that, you need to all be on the same page,” said Vargas.

Vargas says that the team is prepared for anything. “We practice in all conditions of weather, so it doesn’t matter if it’s raining, snowing, hailing, whether it’s 109 degrees outside, we practice in it, so we’re prepared for these types of events, so going into it we’re all prepared mentally and physically.”

“For myself, coming off the team right now, I’m marked as the 4th or 5th runner, but I wanna get higher in those rankings,” said Vargas. “I’m gonna go out there and give it my all and just do what I know what to do and just stay mentally strong.”

Junior Jack Arreola, ’27, says “I think I’ve been really good. I think I’ve had a lot of help from my teammates, and we’ve just been going at it together, going strong.”

“I think our entire team is really good, we’ve grown a lot since the time that I was here freshman year,” said Arreola. “We’ve just been building stronger and stronger every year.”

In preparation for the the championships, Arreola says “Instead of doing hard workouts, we’ve just been doing nice, easy workouts to keep ourselves strong so that we’re at our peak potential for the EYL race.”

Jack’s expectations for the team as a whole at EYL are “to go out there and win, I want us to do our best first of all, and then I think a victory will come along with that because we’ve put in the work so we’re ready to see the results.”

For himself, Arreola’s expectation is to try and “get top three because I think I have the potential too, and not only for myself, I think for my team. I’ll do great so that we get in good standings for valley and hopefully state in the future.”

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