Trotting towards the finish line, full of determination, the Wildkat cross country team made their school proud on Thurs. Sept. 22 when they not only had their first winning meet of the school year, carrying home a myriad of medals.  

Weeks of blood, sweat and tears brought them to this moment and this singular meet gave runners a glimpse of what it truly means to be a team. 

“It felt great that we were finally coming together as a team and that we were finally winning a meet,” sophomore Crystal Covarrubias said. “It showed how hard we’d been working because we’ve been working all year to get to this point.” 

Reveling in the gold and glory, Wildkats are feeling more inspired than ever before. This meet gave wildkats a taste of victory that they’ll never forget. 

“I won third and JV won our meet,” sophomore Alyssa Rodriguez said. “It was a really big pick-me-up after our last few loses and now that I’ve set an expectation for myself, it’s definitely going to push me to work harder.” 

This meet was a great moment even for senior members of the team It left them with high hopes for the future of this year’s team as well as the program as a whole when they leave. 

“It felt good seeing my teammates succeed and it gave me a lot of hope for the rest of the kids that are going to be coming in next year,” senior Odett Cantor said. “It gives me hope for the freshman because now they know what it feels like to win and I feel like they’re going to want to experience more of that.” 

For newer members of the cross country team, this meet lit a spark inside them that will help motivate them as the season pushes on. It really emphasized to some just how important it is to practice hard to seek results later. 

“I feel like I pushed myself a lot more at that meet, which ultimately helped me win,” sophomore Heath Grant said. “I’d say that practices were definitely harder than the meet itself just because there’s a lot of repetition but being pushed so much at practice helped me build up the endurance and determination that helped me win”