Junior Theo Kaufman skips during his warm-up with seniors Aidan Cunningham and Emil Erickson close behind.
Junior Riya Rampalli finished the varsity girls’ 3-mile race in 25:05.3, a personal record, at the cross country team’s third meet of the season, Sept. 10.
And in her third race freshman Mackenzie McLeod ran the freshman/sophomore 2-mile in 20.51, improving upon her previous times of 21:10 and 22:58.01.
“My biggest challenge was running up the hill two times,” McLeod said. “The first time, everything went great, but the second time, I was worn out.” (A Rio Americano runner won the race in 14:10.)
Freshman Zak Wright (19.00.1), junior Theo Kaufman (17.41.6), and seniors Christian Van Vleck (21.28.7), Aidan Cunningham (19.59.9) and Emil Erickson (22.17.7) competed in the varsity boys’ 3-mile race.
Although this wasn’t his best race, Erickson said he wasn’t disappointed.
“(The Ancil Hoffman picnic) was tiring physically, and it impacted me, “ Erickson said.
A Jesuit runner won the race in 14:50.
Coach Nick Domich said he was also pleased with the results.
“We are a small team, but if I have five boys or five girls on the starting line at any race, then I’m happy regardless of how fast they run,” he said.
“The varsity boys have a chance of being one of the top two (teams) of their section, but we will have to see how the other runners place.”
He said that all the boys had discussed their time goals last week and that everyone except for Cunningham reached his goal.
Senior Aidan Cunningham runs up his last hill before reaching the finish line of the varsity boys’ 3-mile race.
Sophomore Heidi Johnson planned to run the freshman/sophomore 2-mile race but sprained her ankle at the picnic.
The next race will be Saturday, Sept. 17, at Willow Hills Reservoir Course in Folsom, at 9 a.m.
“Next week we have challenging hills in the 3-mile race, so hopefully I’ll be ready and able to improve my time,” Erickson said.
The team also encountered hills at their second meet of the season at Lagoon Valley Regional Park in Vacaville, Sept. 3. (Some players, like Wright, ran at Lodi Lake.)
Kaufman finished 41st in the 3-mile race at Vacaville. He was one place short of a medal, but at 18:40.02 he was the first in his division to cross the finish line, 0.04 seconds ahead of Vacaville Christian’s Tyler Bosler, who was on his home course at Lagoon Valley Regional Park.
Cunningham, Van Vleck, Erickson, and seniors Jaelan Trapp and Adam Dean also ran the varsity boys’ 3-mile race at Vacaville. Cunningham finished in 22:34.02, Van Vleck in 23:32.02, Erickson in 24:46.02, Trapp in 27:50.02 and Dean in 28:01.02
Wright ran the freshman boys 2-mile, finishing in 19:42.02.
Johnson and McLeod ran the varsity women’s freshman/sophomore 2- mile race. Johnson finished her 2-mile race in 17:18.01 and McLeod in 22:58.01.
—By Héloïse Schep
