Alexis Pehrson

Freshman Liam Maloy strides toward the finish line. Maloy’s favorite part of cross country is “being in the vans because it can be funny with [Mr.] Carrillo.”

With 16 runners, twice as many as last year, Yutan cross country is looking forward to having a full boys and girls team this season. 

“Having a bigger team is exciting because it shows that people are having fun and want to come back and we’ll push each other to get better,” head coach Joel Carrillo said.

The new additions to the team come from a variety of grade levels and include transfer students, first-time runners and athletes re-joining the sport.

This growth is especially noticeable for the girls team, who went from having only two members to having nine members, even more than the six members that make up a full team.

“I’m excited for the number of girls that we have out because it makes the varsity spots more desirable because now you’re actually beating people to earn it,” Carrillo said. “I’m looking forward to how well we can do as a team given this new competitiveness.”

One athlete who’s excited for the opportunities that come with a bigger team is junior Madi Ledden, who was on last year’s team. Ledden finds that having more teammates helps everyone push each other more in practice.

“I like having other people to push you when you don’t feel like running…It’s just a little bit of competitiveness, trying to beat each other and be faster,” Ledden said.

Besides having teammates to help her improve, Ledden has also sought out other opportunities to give herself a competitive edge, including summer workouts and competition.

“I was lifting and running on my own, and I went to all of our preseason conditioning. I ran a 10k in June,” Ledden said.

With all the preparation the athletes did over the summer, they have set high goals for the season. This is true for sophomore Eli Kult, despite having a few setbacks.

“I have run this summer and been rehabbing because I’ve been having knee problems and some minor injuries,” Kult said. “I still have high expectations for myself after my injury like making it to state and big PR’s.”

In order to achieve their team and individual goals, Carrillo has made a few changes with the practices to better prepare his runners.

“I’m preparing my athletes for competition by doing interval training on the track and on the hills, sprint training and then we do tempo runs and long 20-minute runs at a fast pace. Then we have long distance runs anywhere from four to seven miles, depending on the runner and their ability,” Carrillo said.

Although cross country is physically demanding, running is more than just training athletes’ muscles and increasing their stamina. A big part of this sport is the runners’ mindset. One way that Yutan practices this is by having the athletes set goals for themselves, with Ledden being one of these athletes.

“The week leading up to the race, we look at our time from past years on the same courses and set a goal to beat the past time to get a PR,” Ledden said.

Ledden said these goals are part of a “mindset shift” that has made a big impact on her while she’s running. 

“I’m thinking about how I’ll feel after the fact, if I have a specific goal in mind,” Ledden said. “If I don’t want to do this anymore, I think, ‘How will I feel after the run when I beat that goal? I’ll be proud of myself.’”

While each of the runners is working towards their individual goals, however, they still want to focus on building friendships with the team.

“My favorite part is the team bond that we have,” Kult said. “It just makes it really fun because we have a really tight-knit group.”