Last season, the boys varsity cross-country team won the league championship which allowed them to qualify for CCS. Going into this season, Coach Steven Munoz believed they were one of the top teams in the Gabilian division for PCAL, but it’s been a little more difficult than he anticipated.
A major part of Munoz’s faith in his team’s ability was based on his returners – senior Gustavo Perez, juniors Fernando Herrera, Axel Perez, Joe Montoya, and sophomore Erick Plankarte (new to varsity). The team also welcomed a new runner, junior Noah Rodriguez.
Munoz believes the strengths of this year’s team is their 1-2 punch up front – Gustavo Perez and Fernando Herrera. “Those two guys leading the entire race put our team in a good position to place where we need to place,” Munoz said. As for the runners, Rodriguez believes their depth is their strength. “If one person can’t run a race we are able to fill a spot and still compete,” he said. Gustavo Perez said, “We have a lot of young people; they still have more time to improve”
The runners also have some ambitious goals for themselves. “[I want to show improvement [in my PR time] and stay in varsity to show how hard I’ve been training,” Plancarte said.
Unfortunately, the team has had to deal with some difficulties. They had two meets canceled – the City Meet and Center Meet 2. However, it seems as if the cancellation of the city meet and the second center meet was a gift and a curse. “Our number 3 runner was badly hurt and it was actually kind of a blessing that we didn’t have that second center meet because we might’ve finished last,” Munoz said.
As for Center Meet 3, the team wasn’t able to perform as well as they ended up placing 4th place, missing 1st by 3 points. What helped a lot in Center Meet 3, was sophomore Raul Martinez’s varsity debut. “Raul had a great performance,” Munoz said. “He has come a long way this season and I had a lot of confidence in him being able to perform well on varsity. It was his 2nd varsity race, first Center Meet as varsity, but he stepped up. He had a lot of energy in the tank, as he did not know the course because he was unable to come check it out a few days before with the rest of the team. He knows Palo Corona (League Championship course), he will definitely help our team come championships.”
According to Munoz, the team can still win league. “If we take 1st at PCAL Championships, we will be League Champions,” he said. “However, since we finished 2nd and 4th, the points will be tied with Marina if they finish 2nd at Champs. This means we will share the league title. However, if we finish 1st and Marina finishes 3rd or worse, we will be League Champs outright.”
