Varsity

The OHS Cross country team is one of the sports that has extremely early practices, yet very dedicated athletes. Determination to beat their own records and develop as a team is something every runner has been displaying throughout the season. 

“We have a couple of really exceptional runners who are going to be competitive at state,” said Kellen Chavez, assistant coach. “They’re great kids.” 

Running in general is something that has to be done regularly and practiced in order to display improvement, making the entire process worth it once the athletes beat their times and goals. 

“It’s not instant gratification,” Chavez said. “It’s a rewarding sport. You build something from the foundation up, rather than just you going out and already know how to do it.”

Running is a very unique sport because of how it is based on the runner alone, but also on the teamwork amongst the athletes on the team. Each athlete is responsible for their own performance, but group practices and work outs involve interacting with and encouraging your teammates. 

“Specifically, running is a fun sport for me because it’s personal but at the same time because it’s such a hard sport you go with the team and that team can help you go past what you usually do,” said Seth Gardiner, junior. 

This season, the team has already been able to do things they were not able to do last year, despite being pretty young. Less social distancing and mask restrictions have made the athletes feel more free and less constrained within the sport. 

“It feels like it’s back to its roots,” Chavez said.

Now that the season is back to normal, the team is allowed to go to meets and events they weren’t able to attend last season. 

“We’ve had a couple good races. We went to California [Woodbridge Invitational] and raced which was really fun,” said Amelia Long, senior. 

The team is growing, and with more growth comes more goals. The team all practices together, despite varying skill levels, so goals do look slightly different, but the motivation is definitely consistent no matter what. 

“Our girls team wants to make it to state as a team,” Long said. “Last year three of us individually qualified but this year we’re hoping to get all the girls to go, which would be really fun.”

Athletics truly help create long lasting bonds between students. It helps kids open up to new people, as well as learn how to get along with people and encourage each other. 

“Cross-country kids are largely just good, down-to-earth kids,” Chavez said. “Once they open up, good bonds develop within the team.”

In cross country, their unique co-ed system contributes to how the connections between the runners develop. Friendly competition is exercised as well as pushing each other to the best they possibly can be. 

“It’s unique because we are co-ed; we’re with the boys so that’s fun,” says Long. 

Because all the runners are together, competitions similar to sibling rivalries also develop, which not only bring the athletes but also help everyone improve their speed further.

“It helps to have a brother rivalry or a sister rivalry,” Gardiner said.

Cross country and running is something you can be involved with for a long time, even after high school. With determination and long-term dedication to the sport, immense improvement can be seen in your time, speed, and records. 

“It’s still an outlet for me,” Chavez said. “You will improve every single year that you [run]. Just gotta stick with it; it’s a process.”

JV

The JV team is quite young but definitely filled with extremely committed athletes who are ready to accomplish their challenging goals.

“It’s always tough when you’re young because cross country is one of those sports where unless you’re born gifted it takes a long time to build up the strength and endurance,” Chavez said. “But we’re good, the success will come.”

Mile time and speed is undeniably one of the main goals runners have and just within the season the OHS JV runners have already been making improvements. 

“I’ve improved at the meets, made lots of friends, it’s been going really well,” said Tanner Clark, freshman. “I’ve definitely made improvements on my pace and how much distance I can go.” 

Speed and mile time is one of the main focuses of the athletes. Reaching the times they want to reach while running the challenging distance they want to run, are goals each and every runner focuses on throughout the season. 

“It’s all about the mile time for me so my goal is to be able to run a five minute mile,” said James Wenzel, freshman.

To get the time that they want, runners must achieve a pace that will ensure that they will reach their mile time at every meet. 

“I’m striving to get a 5K under 24 minutes, trying to get that eight minute pace for three-miles straight,” Clark said. 

As all the cross country runners practice and work out together, encouragement and support flows through the entire team. 

“I felt really welcome,” Wenzel said. “I like the motivational support.”

The JV team is the younger level of the team, so to continue to keep that commitment and dedication in them is the main objective, aside from helping them improve on their speed and mile time. 

“What’s important to me is to build kids that are interested,” Chavez said. “To just get kids interested in a sport that is something that they could do their whole lives.”