Impressive mile times set cross country up for a stellar season
Starting off this year's cross country season Samo has shown great attitudes for the meets ahead. With impressive mile times and personal bests, the Vikings are looking good for a successful year.
Katherine Saunders / Contributor
The Samo boys’ varsity cross country team builds endurance and unity on a team trip to Mammoth.
Last season, Samo finished as the champions of Ocean League, qualifying for the CIF Southern Section Finals. Following that, three athletes advanced into the top ten for their three mile race times, making their mark in Samo’s history.
This season our boys’ and girls’ varsity teams have competed in three meets. A notable one being the Dana Hills Invitational Meet. What should have been a standard three mile race turned into an inconvenient 2.1 mile race when the lead cyclist guiding the boys’ varsity race took a wrong turn, cutting the course down by 0.9 miles.
The few meets so far have been competitive with runners maintaining good pace and even better composure. During these races Samo has had multiple runners stay close together and finish with strong times.
Katherine Saunders / Contributor
The Samo girls’ varsity team tests their strength and teamwork at Mammoth Camp.
The boys’ varsity team has been completing these races with high efforts that highlight their top performers and consistent runners. The girls’ varsity has also shown great results across the board. These performances demonstrate the teams’ readiness and high level athleticism.
Katherine Saunders, the assistant coach, believes that the team is making steady progress towards their end goal of making it to state.
“Their confidence in themselves and their confidence in each other gets a little bit stronger every single week,” Saunders said. “And if we continue on that trajectory, there's no reason why we would not make it [to state].”
As long as the cross country team can stay healthy, injury free and in the right head space, they have every chance to reach that milestone. Looking into the distance, the cross country stars have eight meets ahead of them. Hopefully continuing on to the Ocean League Finals on Nov. 5, 2025 at Columbia Park, CA. Good luck to the cross country boys’ and girls’ teams striving to reign victorious once again at CIF this season. Go Vikings!