Coaches: Hannah Batchelor (head coach), Gideon Pichardo (assistant coach)
Top Returners (boys): Charlie Munoz (10), Fernando Munoz (10), Ronin Nguyen (12)
Top Returners (girls): AJ Dorris (12), Madison Lopez (10), Mia Gonzales (12)
Top Newcomers (boys): Somyung Heo (10), Arjun Parikh (9), Ethan Tso (9)
Top Newcomers (girls): Marcella Guppy (9), Ava Lee (9), Kairi Nguyen (9)
Last Season: The boys cross country squad placed fifth in the North Hills League with a final score of 94 points, while the girls scored 74 points and placed fourth in the Freeway League — both in the Century Conference. Although neither team qualified for the CIF-SS preliminary round, Gonzales and Munoz qualified for the individual CIF-SS.
Outlook: Batchelor said she aims for the boys and girls cross country teams to place in the top two in their respective leagues and make it to the CIF-SS finals this season.
“My goals for the season are similar to last year, which is, I want everyone to be able to gain new skills, and I want them to be able to gain new success,” Batchelor said. “And our ultimate goal, of course, is to make it to CIF as a team.”
With the teams being in the same leagues as last season and knowing what to expect from them, Batchelor said she feels confident that both teams will succeed this year.
“I honestly can’t say that I have major concerns,” she said. “The work that I’ve been seeing so far has been excellent, and I’m so excited for this season.”
To train for the season, Batchelor said the team started lifting in the weight room twice a week over the summer to improve their upper body strength.
“I think the team has adjusted well to it,” the head coach said. “I know they’re excited to be in the weight room and be able to work out different parts of our bodies and learn more about being a well-rounded athlete.”
Gonzales said the weight room workouts help her performance during practice.
“I think doing weight room this year was a really good idea since it conditions the body and makes injuries less likely as well,” she said. “Improving upper body strength makes a huge difference when your legs need support in a race.”
Batchelor said that for the cross country team, teamwork is its biggest strength.
“There’s some really strong leadership and everyone’s able to work together, motivate each other after every single run,” she said. “Every time we stop at a light saying ‘good job’ to each other, I think the community and bonding that they have together, even though it’s a pretty big team, is a big strength.”
Gonzales said that although she feels a lot of pressure from herself and others, she is excited to race with her team.
“I think team camaraderie is pretty good this year, especially after having two bonding events now,” Gonzales said. “Even more after seeing how comfortable the newcomers are at practice compared to previous years.”
For the upcoming first meet, Nguyen said that he is excited to race again and predicts he will do well.
“We want to win and we have been working hard,” said Nguyen, who aims to break 16 minutes in the three-mile race. “However, we have a very young team, so the pressure might be overwhelming at first for some of them.”
Batchelor said the cross country boys, who are in the Century Conference’s North Hills League, like last year, will compete against Villa Park High School, La Habra High School, Foothill High School and Esperanza High School.
The girls will race in the Century Conference’s Freeway League against Villa Park High School, Foothill High School, Brea Olinda High School and Crean Lutheran High School.
The first league meet of the season will take place at Yorba Regional Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 3 p.m.
