The SSFS cross country team, led by Leah Niepold and Carylton Ganong, has been a success throughout the past few years, and this year was no exception. The team focuses on cohesion, unity, camaraderie, and hard work. All the team members are courageous, as coach Leah says as her motto for the team, “We ran to discover courage.” With the end of the 2021 cross-country season, the SSFS runners contributed to another outstanding season for the school. Our runners have shown tremendous improvement since the senior game all the way to the final PVAC championship.

On Oct 13, 2021, seniors, including Jade, Emma, Joshua, Allen, Riley, and Halley, finished their last home game. In addition to the intense competition, coaches prepare a special celebration ceremony for the SSFS seniors: the 11th graders prepared their own gifts for the 12th graders, and each of them gives their own moving speech to the ‘elders’ of the team. The team also finished the race with distinction: 18 people on the team achieved their personal records. As usual, the girls’ team won again with 28 points (the lower the points, the better the rank) and has an undefeated season so far; the boys’ team also does a great job, coming in second place with 65 points.

After the senior game, runners will face the final PVAC championship in approximately two weeks. Meanwhile, as both the interviewer and the captain of the varsity men’s cross-country team, Allen Wang, interviewed several runners in the team before the championship:

• What do you expect before the season?

Jade Wilkinson (a 12th-grade student and a cross-country runner for 6 years): “I will do well in this season because I trained hard and well throughout the year, and I think it will be my best year.”

Joshua Fasalojo (a 12th-grade student and a first-year cross-country runner): “I think cross-country is harder than it sounds like, and that is the reason I choose this sport this year because I want to get myself in shape.”

Khalid Javeed (an 11th-grade student and a cross-country runner for 2 years): “I have not trained during the pandemic, so I think I will be slow and never get a personal record.”

Dallas Chisolm (a 9th-grade student and a cross-country runner for 4 years): “I want to improve my personal record and try my best.”

• How do you feel about the upcoming championship?

Khalid Javeed: “I am really uptight because although I improve a lot throughout the season, I still do not get my personal record. I want my personal record!”

Joshua Fasalojo: “I am really nervous about the championship, and I am not even sure if I am qualified for it.”

Jade Wilkinson: “I feel confident, and I want to achieve my goal of being in the top 14 of the game.”

• How do you think about the future of the cross-country team?

Fasalojo: “I feel optimistic about our team because everyone is trying their best, and freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are all hard workers.”

Dallas: “We get our young runners as the top 5, and we have a lot of fast middle school runners, so our team will definitely improve more.”

On October 27, 2021, our SSFS cross-country runners competed in the PVAC championship. Although he, unfortunately, sprained his ankle during his senior game, Allen was still on crutches and actively participated in the team’s warm-up. Two hours later, the SSFS cross-country team successfully completed their final mission of the season: the boys’ team came in third place out of seven scoring teams in the PVAC with 85 points; the girls’ team won the PVAC Team Title for the first time since 2004 and also set a league record for the lowest score at championships with only 25 points.