On Oct. 10, the sun beamed warm light onto Bonita Vista High School’s track, and BVH’s Varsity Cross Country team warmed up through a series of leg stretches and exercises. As 3 p.m. hit, the boys prepared to run 3.1 miles around the BVH track. . This week’s opponent was the Eastlake High School (EHS) Titans, a rival school, and they prepared to duel at the dual meet between the two schools. Team leader and senior Adan Hurtado explains what his night time routine is before a race, and how he prepares physically and mentally.
“I prepare by doing my stretch routine and making sure I get a good amount of sleep. The important thing is to stay hydrated and drink a lot of water the day before. If you are hydrating five minutes before your race, it will not help at all”, Hurtado said. “I make sure not to think negatively and think I am the best runner of all time. It sounds dumb but having this confidence of believing you are the best will allow you to not have any doubts. I always think this way, so when I line up I am excited and ready to compete.”
Cross country is a mentally challenging sport, as athletes run distances of up to just over three miles while focusing on passing and maintaining positions to ensure the highest placement they can achieve. Senior Joshua Hoffman goes into detail about what he tells himself before a race, and how he keeps those thoughts and ideas in his head as he runs.
“Before I go into a race I tell myself that God has me and that he will keep me safe and healthy. I tell myself that I have been training for this and that everything will be fine. As I run, I reinforce those ideas into my mind at the mile or two-mile mark,” Hoffman said.
The Barons ran at their own course for the meet against EHS, and Head Coach of Cross Country and Track Daniel Kettlehake believes that there is an advantage to running at home. Kettlehake explains that students are more prepared to run at home than at any other school or track.
“It is an advantage to run at home because you know the course well and train on it a lot. There is not much to this course as far as hills. There are some uphill, some downhill, there are some faster places, there are some slower places. They know where the mile, two-mile and three-mile mark is. You have an advantage when you are running,” Kettlehake said.
As Kettlehake explained, the Barons have an advantage as they know the track better than anyone else. Kettlehake explains what the track looks like, and where the team runs as they race each other.
“It starts and ends on the track. You do 400 meters on the track and then you go off and there is a loop around campus, going around the baseball and softball fields, coming back around this field. The loop is about a mile,” Kettlehake said.
The Barons raced the loop three times, ending with 300 meters on the track to close out their race, finishing with a distance of roughly 3.1 miles. As these races are mainly focused around endurance, Hurtado explained that he made up near the start, and the mistake that EHS had made.
“I got out quickly and held a consistent pace. Many of the EHS runners started trying to stick together and many slowed down after the first mile as they could not maintain a steady pace. I was part of the front group so there was not much passing. The thought was to not get passed,” Hurtado said. “I tried to stick with my teammate [senior Sebastian Aranda] and [the] EHS top runner. The goal was to pass him so Bonita could have a one-two finish, but that was not the case. It was hard to pass [him] because every time I made up ground and caught up, he would speed up and get away from me. He ended up beating me by a few seconds.”
Hurtado was unable to catch up to the second-place runner, as he placed third overall with a time of 17:34.39, seven seconds behind the second-place runner and 26 seconds behind senior Sebastian Aranda. As EHS is considered a “rival” school based on the division, Hurtado goes into detail about having this “rivalry” between athletes at EHS, Otay Ranch High School or Olympian High School.
“I like having a competitive nature and building rivalries with other schools. I know the Varsity guys from both Otay and Olympian and before the race, [so] during warmups, we talk like friends. We catch up on how our seasons are going and what we were looking forward to, but as soon as we are in uniform and lining up at the start, it is us against them, and whoever crosses the finish line first will have the bragging rights. The desire to win and represent our school makes us run faster. We push ourselves more than we thought we could,” Hurtado said.
Cross country is based on the runners’ placement in the race, however the only scores that are recorded are the first five from their respective school to finish. Kettlehake expands on how scoring works.
“In cross country, the lowest score wins, so you just add up people’s places. Sebastian was first, Adan was second, so that is three points. You take your first five people, add up their finishing places, and you take Eastake’s top five people, and add up their finishing places,” Kettlehake said.
Cross country is a team sport, so those who are not running currently will cheer on their teammates in their races. Hurtado explains how his position as team leader translates to the advice he gives to younger teammates, especially the freshmen athletes.
“The important [thing] is giving them advice pre-race. As a team leader, I prioritize helping the freshman. They can use that advice. Some runners are also nervous, so I give them a talk and get them ready for the race. The most helpful advice is telling them, ‘it is just another run. We run everyday, so what makes this run any different?’ I tell them to go out there and do what they do everyday, and they go out and execute [it],” Hurtado said.
The Barons ended up winning the dual, as they had the winning score of 24-31. The first five finishers for BVH were Aranda, Hurtado, Hoffman and sophomores Ethan Heredia and Lukas Brown. Hurtado comments on the team’s overall effort during the event.
“As a team, we came together and got the job done. Earlier this season we had a problem of not being able to run as a pack. Sticking together would benefit us greatly, so we found some of that during the EHS meet. We came together as we lost two Varsity runners due to injury [during the Olympian meet]. Some guys stepped up and came through to place high enough to earn us the victory,” Hurtado said.
