“We just weren’t organized this year,” senior varsity runner Wen Wai Yim said. “And we didn’t know where to have it because we usually have it at Lowell, but now they’ve become really strict about having security at every event that takes place on campus, and hiring security guards costs too much.”

This year’s freshman crop will have to content themselves with hearing stories about past year’s traditions. For years, the subject of many a cross-country conversation was the skit that runners of each grade would create for the night of initiation, which would then kick off with a potluck dinner. Filled with scandalous inside jokes poking fun at individual runners’ peculiarities, the skits encouraged bragging and team pride — general merriment.

“It's a fun event and a real chance to let people's personalities show outside of the setting of running practice,” senior varsity runner Yoongi Tom said. “The skits are usually hilarious because they bring out some of the quirks people on the team are guilty of having.”

Past skits have made fun of everything from a certain runner’s tendency to trip to another runner’s irrational fear of birds, according to Yim. “We always made the freshmen seem out of shape or about to get lost,” she said. “Once we made fun of how the varsity guys used to all wear sunglasses and go to the bathroom together; during runs they would stop by the port-o-potties and all take turns.”

One of the most legendary skits ever performed was the spoof that this year’s senior runners put on during their sophomore year, in which they offered their speculation on the “Sunset Predator,” a flasher who caused quite a stir back then. The witty sophomores turned their skit into a comical living, breathing game of Clue, using their teammates’ foibles to narrow down possible suspects on the team.

The celebration of runners’ eccentricities in these skits is one part of what has given cross country its reputation as a friendly and down-to-earth bunch of kids, a group that endures a harsh physical regimen every day with a superhuman resiliency. Without the team spirit that freshman initiation creates from the team’s oddities, cross country would lose its charm for many.

“Sure, there's a lot of ragging on each other between the classes, but underneath all that, there is this sense of love for the team and what it does for us,” Tom said. Despite the absence of freshman initiation, members’ love for the team has still pulled them through another AAA season. Though this Wednesday’s city championships occurred too late for press time, the Cardinals were poised to win in all divisions, with the only uncertainty being the amount of competition to expect from Mission’s varsity boys team, which is rumored to be full of members of their soccer team and quite brawny.

As for now, team members hope to cap off three months of intense training with a strong performance at the final meet of the year, the California Interscholastic Federation State Championships in Fresno. But physical limitations accumulated from these three months may get in the way.

“We were set to be very strong contenders for all-city,” senior varsity runner Tommy York said. “But unfortunately, state requires cross-country runners of a much higher caliber, and everyone has shin splints now.”

The CIF State Championships begin at 8 a.m. on Nov. 25 in Fresno’s Woodward Park.