The weekend of September 28-29, 2018, Redwood’s Girls Varsity Cross Country team travelled to Stanford University for a big invite.
At 8:30am the 7 girls (myself included), along with the alternate, packed into the district van and embarked on their 3 hour drive to the college. After arrival, they ate and walked around the Stanford Shopping Center. They left around 4 and after changing quickly once the got to the hotel, they went in a quick 4 mile run to shake out all the jitters.
After the run, the girls showered and changed then left again this time to go to a team pasta dinner at Ristorante Don Giovanni in Mountain View, California. Then they did team bonding which included all buying a $1 pair of “spooky socks” from Target and do face masks in the hotel rooms.
The next morning- RACE DAY. The team ate the hotel breakfast then headed over to the college again. After warming up, stretching, and preparing for the big race, they walked up to the start line with confidence.
Really great weather, challenging competition, and a great golf course created many great times and satisfaction for the girls. One standout runner, Chloe Schultz, ’20, achieved a 18:58 which put her as the third place finisher of the Divison II Varsity Girls race.
Schultz is a recent transfer from Clovis East High School but has truly embodied what it means to be a TRUE Ranger by being a positive influence on the team and also excelling with stellar times. She described the trip as this: “The overall trip was very fun and a great experience for the whole team and I. We went into the race having a great mindset due to the weather and air quality…it helped our team become closer as a whole and I can’t wait to go back next year.”
As for her own race, she felt “mentally and physically ready thanks to my teammates and coach helping me believe in myself to finally reaching my goal of breaking 19…by the second mile, I decided to do some surges in order to get an overall faster time. As I came into the shoot and saw that I broke 19, my heart filled with joy.” After her race, she was able to talk to a few college coaches like UCLA’s and was interviewed for a few different running websites. Schultz still has a whole season and a half left to improve even more and make more lasting memories on the team.
Here are the rest of the results from the race:
Sophia Dominguez, ’20, 20:38, Kylee Dismuke, ’19, 20:48, Victoria Nino, ’21, 20:49, Katie Becerra, ’21, 21:41, Alyssa Nunez, ’19, 21:45, and Krissy Hetherington, ’21, 23:14.
The team was able to accumulate many PR’s and show great strength going into the second half of their season. The entire team will be racing on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018 in Hanford and varsity will also race at the Clovis Invite at 7:15 on Saturday morning.
Tags: central valley, college, cross country, girls cross country, high school, race, rangers, redwood high school, redwood rangers, running, stanford invite, WYL