On October 18th, Eisenhower’s cross country team stepped on to the starting line for Rancho Cucamonga’s 25th annual Inland Empire cross country invitational .
Hosted by Rancho Cucamonga Highschool and taking place at Ontario’s Cucamonga regional park, this race and its deceivingly simple course stands as a challenge for both beginning and experienced racers alike.
In the hours leading up to the race, athletes must have enough time to properly prepare themselves for the intense trails that await them. No coaches know this better than the Eisenhower’s very own greater than grand cross country coaches Bibian and had Quintero arrive at the meet an hour and forty minutes before the first race to properly prepare their racers.
Unfortunately, no amount of pre-race preparation can make up for a lack of runners. Eisenhower’s canopy stood rather vacant since a large amount of the cross country team was unable to make it to the race. Race goer Ian Rosales sheds light on why this could be , sharing that the lower attendance was likely due to a scheduling issue.
The Invitational was unfortunately scheduled for the same day as Eisenhower’s homecoming dance. “Students had to decide which one was the greater priority,” Rosales states.
Despite this, the present racer’s spirits were not diminished as the racer’s energy was ready and raring to race. With both excitement and nervousness in the air, Ike’s first race begins.
8:40 marks the first race of the day with one of Eisenhower’s newest racers, Kennan Corado. Although Kennan was a little nervous for the race, she still hoped to get a PR of at least 28 minutes. A one minute improvement from her previous race.
The race starts off smoothly with no problems as Kennan finds a good pace with a group of 5 other racers in 72nd place.
Making it to the end of the first mile and rearing towards the beginning of the second, Kennan is maintaining her established pace and as she keeps up with her group of runners is 71st place.
Kennan then finishes her first loop around the Cucamonga lake, marking the over the halfway point of her second mile and a fantastic increase as she continues her steady pace and holds onto to 70th place, a pace which she carries all the way to the finish line as she ends her race with a time of 26 minutes 41 seconds, 2 minutes less than her initial goal.
Onto our second race, the sophomore girls race with Catherine Sanchez and Estelle Huerta. With their excitement and nervousness getting them pumped up, these two racers are ready to get good times as both racers are pushing for a PR of less than 26 minutes.
“I like pushing hard…If I don’t finish tired, then I don’t do anything.” comments Catherine during her pre-race interview. Only high hopes are set with an enthusiasm like that.
Once again the race starts smoothly with no accidents. Catherine attempts to go for a quick beginning at start at 33rd place while Estelle chooses to conserve his energy and maintain a slower pace at 52nd place in a large group of other racers.
Halfway through their first mile and Catherine slows her pace a little as she makes her way to 42nd place with Estell not too far behind as she continues into the rest of her first mile with the same crowd at 53rd palace.
Making it past the lake and halfway through their second mile, Estelle manages to climb her way to 46th place while Catherine follows behind at 50th.
In the end, Estelle managed to pass 3 more to maintain her pace until the end and placed 47th place with a great time of 24 minutes 40 seconds with Catherine not too far behind at 54th place with 25 minutes 43 seconds. Both racers can go home happy knowing that they achieved their goals and crushed their PRs with time to spare.
Onto our third race, the boys varsity race starring Pablo Hernandez, Damian Martinez, Santiago Velasco, David Valenzuela, and Adzel Calderon. This is the race with the most Eisenhower runners involved with such notable names like former JV Warrior Pablo, high expectations are for these runners. Despite this, a majority of the runners seem more excited than nervous with high hopes for a new PR today. Are top runners hoping to get times between 20 and 21 minutes, but with such a high competition only time will tell how well they stay true to their word.
The race starts off just as smooth as the ones before, though one noticeable difference between this race and the previous ones is the starting distance between the racers. During the entirety of the first mile of the race, most racers were able to remain in one large group, making it difficult to discern the racers’ beginning progress.
From what could be observed, it seemed that the Eisenhower athletes were able to make it to roughly the middle of the large group with Santiago and Pablo leading the charge with David, Damian, and Adzel following in close proximity.
After the first mile scramble, the race becomes more clear as racers start settling into their places with The Eisenhower athletes growing further and further apart with each loop around the lake.
Although the distance between each raver varied, their places in the overall race changed very little as each of them were able to maintain their places throughout the 2nd and 3rd mile leading to the end with Pablo at 83rd, Santiago at 85th, and all the others leading behind.
In the end, Adzel was able to achieve his goal of a brand new PR of an impressive 20 minutes 49 seconds while Pablo and Santiago just barely missed their sub-twenty goals being 20 minutes flat and 20 minutes 17 seconds respectively. Even though they weren’t able to make their goals, all racers were still able to make good times and beat a solid third of the 200 racers competing.
Onto the fourth and Final Race for the Cross Eagles today at Savannah Alarcon, Gennisis Corado, and Danna Pelayo step onto the track for Eisenhower’s final hurrah!
Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, no interviews were taken of these racers before their races.
Just as the day started, the last race follows suit with a smooth beginning for our last racers. Like the boys varsity race, the varsity girls are also much more densely packed, from what could be observed Savannah was able to end her first mile at around 59th place while Genesis and Danna paced each other at 61st and 62nd.
At a little over half of their second mile, Savannah keeps great pace as she steadily makes her way up to 56th place while Genesis and Danna make quick recovery as both are able to make it past Savannah.
In the end, Danna is able to push all the way to 21st place with an amazing time of 21 minutes 33 second with Genesis and Savannah following behind with 25 minutes 5 seconds and 25 minutes 31 seconds respectively. All 3 racers were able to show significant improvement from their last races and end this great race day off with just the bang that the Eisenhower cross country team needed.
