With their laces triple knotted and their muscles warmed up for another day of practice, Cross Country steps into an exciting new season, accompanied by new hopes and a wave of promising rookies.
The recent results of the season so far have definitely reflected the newfound intensity of the training. At the Kenny Staub invitational at Crescenta Valley Park on Oct. 5, a majority of the team’s members placed in their races and received medals, while the team as a whole managed to place and earn plaques in a majority of their divisions.
Coach Mike Tomasulo has been shifting focus to not only building endurance with long runs, but also making the runners build experience on faster and shorter workouts. He is also encouraging his runners to stretch and warm up more before practice, to avoid injuries.
“He’s getting much stricter from last year,” Cross Country co-captain Senior Jia Hui Huang said. “He’s definitely making it so that we’re really improving. He’s not training us just to improve us for the next race, or the next season, but beyond that.”
The team kicked off the season with their first meet at Santa Fe Dam on Saturday, Sept. 7. This invitational took place at a completely new venue. Even the more experienced runners had to quickly adjust to the brand new course.
Although the meet began in the morning, it was cancelled around the afternoon due to the extreme heat, when runners from both Temple City and the other schools fell victim to conditions like heatstroke and dehydration.
The invitational was a precursor to the first league meet, also at Santa Fe Dam, on Sept. 17, where the team faced off other schools from the league. The team’s rookies did particularly well at the Woodbridge invitational on Sept. 20, where some of them medaled and placed in the top 100.
Freshmen Christina Chen and Ariana Pinedo are the most prominent new members of the season on the girls end, while for the boys, it’s freshman Gary Guan. Guan placed first in his race on the Kenny Staub invitational at Crescenta Valley Park on Nov. 5, while Chen and Pinedo have already run in varsity races and medaled in most of their races so far in the season.
“I think our new people are really tough,” Co-captain Senior Tori Duong said. “I didn’t know what to expect at first, but they turned out to be very dedicated and committed.”
All in all, many of the new members, freshmen and up continue to impress their upperclassmen and Coach Tomasulo. The team has been facing new and more intense training regimens head on and without complaints.