| Cross-country meets familiar fate: loss at State (12/07) | | Print | |
| Written by Sandra Chen | |
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As expected, the cross-country team annihilated the “competition” at the All-City meet on Nov. 14. And as expected, the team quickly became lost in the dust as Southern Californian teams sped ahead at the California Interscholastic Federation State Championship in Fresno on Nov. 24.
“Most of the runners ran their personal bests,” head coach Michael Prutz said. “Almost all the runners dropped their times by at least one to two minutes. If they continue on this path, we will certainly have a team that can compete at the state-wide level.” Southern Californian teams are known to dominate the standings, gunning past many of Lowell’s top runners. “They have more time and space,” freshman runner Chanel Piper said. “They’re also in a different environment. (But) we have different schedules, coaching and different methods of getting better. They might train better, but we train smarter.” The team has several lower classmen that have potential to improve with practice. “We are a very young team with lots of sophomores,” Prutz said. “They will be around for a couple of more years.” The team hopes to return to Portland, Oregon for the Nike Pre-nationals again, but according to Prutz, going depends on how much money they can raise. With a year until the season starts up again, Prutz hopes that the team will “train more over the summer and come back in the fall, ready to compete as a better team.” Senior co-captain Kevin Xu leaves a few departing words to the team: “Keep working hard. And don’t lose.” Most Valuable Player The most valuable players for this year’s team are undoubtedly varsity sophomore runners Tamara Purpura and Aaron Hill. Both Purpura and Hill led the team to victory as they placed first at All-City in their respective races. “Aaron and Tamara are certainly our fastest runners with AAA Championships under their belts,” Prutz said. Purpura and Hill came in 451 out of 951 and 631 out of 969, respectively, and were the first Lowell runners in each race to cross the finish line. “They work hard and have improved a lot since last year,” Xu said. “They both come to practice regularly and are energetic. Tamara and Aaron are also both very charismatic.” Both runners are a major source of inspiration for the team, considering their age and skill. “They’re both so young and doing so well,” freshman runner Rosa Shields said. “They’re both such excellent runners. I’m definitely inspired by them.” |
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