UC High’s cross country athletes have spent the last three months running long distances six times a week in order to prepare for the season, and with the leadership of Coach Tracy Wright and captains Senior Noah Case and Senior Darcy Ray, they are raring to go.
The hard work starts long before the season for the team. Ray said, “Our summer mileage training started last June and ended halfway through September. We spent the summer building up our number of miles week by week.”
Wright said, “Our top performers have been Darcy Ray and Noah Case.” Ray got third place at their first invitational and Case has already run two personal best times. With this in mind, it’s clear that the team is benefiting from their countless hours of hard work.
This is not to say the team will have an easy road ahead of them. According to the CIF San Diego Section, UC High is currently in CIF Division 3 and in Western League, with schools like Cathedral Catholic, Mira Mesa, Patrick Henry, Point Loma, and Scripps Ranch (cifsds.org). UC High’s athletes will need to be at their best as Scripps Ranch and Cathedral Catholic were the 2023 CIF Division 2 Champions and CIF Division 3 Champions.
To step up to the task, effective leadership is needed. Ray talked about her responsibilities as a captain. Ray said, “We lead the team on runs and help them prepare for the season. We also help them learn how to pace themselves for races.”
Case has been in the program since his freshman year and is one of two senior boys this season. He said, “I do train individually, but we mostly run as a team.”
This leadership on part of the captains has not gone unnoticed. Speaking on Case’s leadership, Freshman Matthew Beaton said, “He’s done a lot for our team as a leader. He motivates us on runs and gives us advice for our races.”
Cross country is more than simply running for these athletes. Wright said, “Cross country is a great way to meet friends. Running can open the door to many opportunities and you get super fit.”
Wright said, “Our girls team has made it to the state meet the last few years and we hope to continue that streak.” The performance of the girls teams in the past years has now made success the standard. Ray said, “Our big goal is to make it to state, but we lost multiple seniors who were on the team last year, so this season will be a challenge.”
On the boys side, Case also has big goals. He said, “As a team, I hope we finish top three in League competition, and individually I hope to make it to state.”