Cross country races past coronavirus
COVID-19 is affecting everyone, including the cross country team that was number one in the nation last year, but the virus is not stopping them and they are still practicing hard. Leo and Lex Young, sophomores, and Dev Doshi, freshman, are among the runners who are working to make sure they are ready to compete again.
This year, the runners have to train together in small groups, socially distanced. Nevertheless, their practices are still as arduous as ever. “I think we are training just as hard as last year, if not harder,” Lex said. “The only thing coronavirus will affect is our ability to race.”
NXN, the Nike Cross Nationals, has been cancelled this year. However, the team still has state meets and CIF, both of which are postponed until December. “We’re not sure if we will be able to run in any meets for our school before that,” said Lex.
Even though the team is not able to meet together every time, they still have a strong bond. “All of us are sad that the season is canceled but… team-wise we’re all still pretty close,” Doshi said.
A cross country season consists of regular meets that would have happened every few weeks, but coronavirus delayed their season to December and canceled most of their meets. “Because the season is so far delayed, our progression of difficult workouts and stuff has been sufficiently slowed down,” Leo said. “We haven’t started doing the hardest workouts just yet like we normally would… it’s allowed buildup that could allow us to train better and smarter.
The Newbury Park cross country team has a big reputation they have worked hard to cultivate. This year’s team expects to keep that respect and try to improve their ranking. “I think it will push us further up on the charts because most people aren’t doing anything,” Leo said. “We already have the jump and keeping the fitness level up allows us to be more prepared than other teams.”
However, the team is taking a big hit this year with Nico Young and Jace Aschbrenner leaving , but they are adapting. “Even though we don’t have two frontrunners like that, I think we will be just as good as last year because of the fact that the backside has gotten a lot better and now we’ll be more of a tighter pack,” Lex said.
“This season is going to be an interesting change to what we normally do: however, I think we are going to adapt and come out even stronger,” Lex said. The cross country team is very hopeful for this coming year and will be training very hard to maintain their outstanding prestige.
