The top six runners of the male division and the top six females will race in Oregon on Sept. 29, according to head coach Michael Prutz,. For the first time in Lowell cross country history the team will compete with teams outside of California, including teams from Utah, Washington and Nevada. The meet is divided into three divisions, with Lowell running in the first.

“I just want to catch as many people as I can,” said varsity runner sophomore Aaron Hill, one of the 12 runners for the race. “It’ll be a good boost of confidence to see how many people I stack.”

At this point, there are no real predictions for the Portland meet. It's "too early in the year and I don't know much about the competition from the other states," Prutz said. “I wanted to do a little bit of traveling with the team this year so they could see some competition and gain experience and positive memories of their high school running,” Prutz said.

The Cardinals have high hopes for placing in this year's All-City meet, with several promising runners returning sophomores Hill and Tamara Purpura and juniors Carlin Lee and Diana Zhen.

“We always want to repeat as AAA champions and qualify for the state championships,” Prutz said, regarding this years prospects.

The team was put to the test on Sept. 15 at the annual invitational at De La Salle High School in Concord. “The meet was the first of the season and it was a good start to our season,” Prutz said. “It gave the runners a foundation for training and preparation for the upcoming season. Hopefully, it will focus the returning runners a bit more and give the new runners the opportunity to understand the demands of cross country running.”

The cross-country team had one medal winner – Purpura, who placed third in the girls’ two-mile frosh-soph race. If varsity runners Hill and junior Elena Chin had run, the team would have placed higher in the meet’s standings, according to Prutz. The meet was still a success and a good indication of better results in the future.

Besides winning at All-City, those results include not placing last in state again, according to senior co-captain Kevin Xu. Last year, the team came in 32nd place at state out of 33, after winning the city title.

Freshmen runners Will Scharffenberger and Richard Quan might alleviate the team's woes at state. The new runners “look like they have a lot of potential,” Xu said.

Hopefully, the training will pay off at the next meet, tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. at Golden Gate Park.