On November 3, the Cross Country team headed to Crystal Springs to participate in their SCVAL League Finals. While this meet signified the end of the season for all junior varsity and Frosh/Soph members of the team, both varsity girls and boys qualified for CCS Finals.

The varsity girls came second in the El Camino League of seven high schools, just behind Gunn. The team was spearheaded by senior Lauren Jacob who finished second place in her race, as well as in the El Camino League of varsity girl runners overall.

“I was really happy with my individual performance and the team performance today,” Lauren said. “It was really nice to see the varsity girls come together and all run really well. I am extremely proud of all the girls. Personally, I ran one of my best races of the season and it was the best I felt during a race.”

Varsity boys were also incredibly successful at the meet. Ben achieved a first place finish, beating his personal best by 29 seconds in the process.

“I ran one of the fastest races of my life, 15 minutes and 6 seconds for 2.95 miles,” Ben said. “I’m looking forward to CCS, which is on the same course as [this meet was].”

Now the team will turn their preparations toward fulfilling their goals at CCS finals and finishing off their season with strength and that characteristically “cross-country” endurance.

“I’m so excited to see the team and I at CCS, when we will have tapered down our mileage and are more rested,” Lauren said. “These last two weeks have been the hardest of the season, so to see all of us run really well in tired legs was great to see.”