The Cross Country team held their second meet on September 14th at West Orange High School. UHS placed 20th out of 28 teams.
Two athletes on the Varsity boys team had to prematurely drop out of the race due to injuries. Coach Laird believes these two injuries were to blame for their lower placing in the race. “We could’ve done better, in fact 10 points higher, if two of our athletes on varsity would have completed the race,” stated Laird. Varsity athlete Sebastian Bojan rolled his ankle mid-race, forcing him to drop out. “This occurred because he has a weak ankle from playing soccer so with the footing he was injured and needed to drop out,” stated Cross Country Coach Mr. Laird. Additionally, 11th grade Isaiah Mayers was tied with our schools top 4 boys before having to drop out due to a migraine.
These missteps aside, individual players reached new heights and beat personal records during this meet. Sophomore Matthew Grullon was neck and neck with our top 4 boys and improved by a minute and 30 seconds from his first race. “I’ve excelled the most at West Orange, reaching my personal record of 1:21,” said Grullon. Sophomore Naeem Clarke was running right alongside him and beat his personal record by the same amount of time. “They were 10 seconds faster in the first mile but in the second mile they were only 30 seconds slower than their first mile. Last week they were a minute and a half slower,” said Laird.
To prepare for the next race the team not only went over physical ways to improve, but also the mental components. “I think just the training that we’ve done is helping them improve when we do repetitions. I also think that’s building their confidence mentally and cross country running is as much mental as it is physical,” stated Coach Laird. The runners themselves are taking Coach Laird’s guidance and are getting ready by focusing on improving their head space while running. “I would like to get out of my head during the race,” stated senior Jasmine Fajardo in regard to their next meet.
