CROSS COUNTRY SPORT SHORTS, 2009
(Latest cross country sports shorts will be at the top of the section. Scroll down to check out past results.

CLOVIS CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL–Oct. 9
During the latest FC meet, not all FC runners were able to run due to some of the seniors taking the SAT.

Freshman Daniel Moore led the FC boys with his record breaking time of 22:33.

“I know that I improved a lot, but I need to work more on my endurance,” Moore said. “All I was trying to do like in did on my last meet was beat Tyler in which I did again by only one second.”

Following Moore with his personal record of 22:34, was freshman Tyler Laird. Laird and Moore were competing against each other, and in the end Moore was able to best Laird again by only one second.

“I am glad that I beat my time by a minute and fifteen seconds, but I still need to improve,” Laird said. “I feel I have to at least beat Daniel once in the season because he has beat me twice in the same track.”

Sophomore Juan Ruelas (26:43) was almost able to shave off two minutes off his original time when he ran the same course on Oct. 2. Following Ruelas with personal record of 27:02, Mark Bennett, ’14, accidentally trailed off the course. As coach Ross Laird stated, “he Cheated.” Apparently Bennett was fatigued by the heat and the long distance and confusion rose, so he accidentally trailed off.

“I feel pretty good about about beating my time and all that, but I don’t think it was a big deal,” Bennett said. “Although my parents made this huge deal about me beating my time by nine minutes I didn’t think it was a big achievement, but I feel good about it”

Despite being the only girl from FC to run in the Frosh/Soph race, Sophomore Madeleine Yee pushed through her mental barriers of being the only girl from FC. She was running in the big school division due to the lateness of signing up for the small school division.

“I was very satisfied with my time because I improved my time by three minutes and thirty two seconds,” Yee said. “I was scared because I was the only girl from FC and my peers weren’t there to encourage my to run my fastest. The best part about that though was that I go to encourage other girls there to run hard.”

Overall, coach Ross Laird was very impressed with the teams times and their improvement. He looks forward to the end of the season to look back and see every ones times and show them how they improved.

“I was impressed with the way every ones times sank way down,” Ross said. “That was very encouraging as a coach to watch everyone run faster than the time before. Yee chopped off three minutes, Tyler shaved off a minute and fifteen seconds and Juan took two minutes off his time.”

The Eagles next meet will be the John Seaman Invitational, Oct. 28.

CLOVIS WEST GOLDEN EAGLE INVITATIONAL–Sept. 24
The races at the Clovis West invitational started with the frosh/soph girls’ in which sophomores Katherine Bennett (N/A) and Madeleine Yee (28:01) participated.

The race consisted of a 5k stretch (3.1 miles) which looped around Woodward Park in northeast Fresno. The invitational continued with the frosh/soph guys’ race in which freshmen Tyler Laird (23:49), Daniel Moore (23:48), Mark Bennett (35:56), and Juan Ruelas (28:35), competed.

“I don’t think I ran my hardest because there were so many hills there [Woodward Park],” Bennett said. “That I had a really hard time running my fastest, where as compared to my last meet there weren’t as many hills so it was easier to run.”

During the Clovis West Invitational, Moore and Laird were not only competing against fellow runners, but also against themselves.

“Compared to my last meet I improved a lot, but I still need to work harder in my future,” Moore said.”I did better in my last race than I did in this race, but all I was trying to do was beat Tyler in the race.”

Moore and Laird ran alongside of each other and Moore was able to best Laird by only one second at the finish line.

After the frosh/soph races were over, the varsity girls’ races began. Dana King (40:11) and Rachel Willhelm (30:15) were the only two girls who ran this race.

“I felt like I was running better and faster in comparison to my last meet,” Willhelm said. “I also like the atmosphere of bigger meets because there are more people around, more competition and more ways to push yourself farther. Although I didn’t do good time wise, I fell good about the race.”

Although King has not been able to train as long as other runners have due to many events she had to attend, she finished the race nonetheless.

“I didn’t do very good, mainly because I haven’t been training due to Calvin Crest,” King said. “I already missed a week of school and had to do a lot of make up work. I also had my shin splints hurting me all during the race which was really tough.”

Despite being the only boy from Fresno Christian, Frank Daniel (21:20) ran varsity at the Clovis West Invitational.

“I know that I could have ran faster than I did because I have ran faster before in past years,” Daniel said. “I felt that I had more in me to run, and I knew that I had to pace myself mentally to make sure that I wouldn’t run to fast or to slow. This last meet I started out too fast and ended up going too slow at the end.”

After the race coach Ross Laird was pleased with all of the runners efforts and was especially happy that he found out what their weaknesses were so he can determine how to train the runners on account of their capability.

“It was a good race because I know the course and it gives me a good read on the runners’ physical abilities and on their conditioning,” Ross said. “In other words we have lots of work for improvement.”

The Eagles next meet will be the Clovis Cross Country Invitational, Oct. 9.

FIREBAUGH INVITATIONAL–Sept. 21
In the opening meet of the season, FC took on the Firebaugh Invitational at Firebaugh High School, Sept. 21.

The course consisted of a two-mile stretch for JV and a three-mile loop for varsity. The races started with the JV girls followed by the JV boys, continuing with varsity girls and varsity boys.

“Overall I think I did really good for my first meet,” Yee said, “especially that I had to run varsity which was pretty challenging.”

No times of the runners speed was kept or remembered by anyone on the team, including the coach due to a traumatic scene made by a couple girls who fainted at the meet.

The Eagles next meet will be the Clovis West Golden Eagle Invitational, Sept. 24.

For more information contact coach Ross Laird on his e-mail at [email protected]