Bonsall High runners kicks off the cross-country season

Heather Holdo and Sara Barclay

Writer Interns

Bonsall High School's cross-country team competed Sept. 18, in San Diego at Liberty Station NTC Park in their first league meet of the season. Filling the shoes of former coach Alan Greene, who coached the team for the past two years, Bonsall High teacher Daniel Costa served as head coach with the help of assistant coach Bob Hoffman.

The league meet saw the boys' junior varsity, boys' varsity, girls' junior varsity and girls' varsity teams complete the 5-kilometer or 3-mile course.

In the boys's junior varsity heat, Conrado Batiz placed 13th with a time of 28 minutes 49.9 seconds. In the top 10 for boys' varsity, Austin Alanis placed second and set a new personal record with a time of 17:23.5, and Ethan McFarland he placed sixth with a time of 18:49.3, a personal record.

Bonsall High School doesn't have a girls' junior varsity team currently. Starting off strong as a freshman, Mikayla Gioia placed fifth in girls' varsity race with a time of 24:11.7.

"Being the only freshman on the team, I think it is a great experience and will help me gain the knowledge of what cross-country really is. It is a great way to gain relationships with people of all grades. I can't wait to make more memories in the upcoming years," Gioia said.

Bonsall High School's cross-country athletic profile, as well as these scores, can be found at http://www.Athletic.net.

In preparation for the meet, team captain Alanis ran the team through a 15-minute warmup course preview with various drills. After the races had finished, team members proceeded to stretch in a group to cool down and relax their muscles.

With a variety of team workouts planned out for the practices to come, Bonsall's team plans to improve upon their times, to break personal records and to have fun while doing it, Alanis said.

"In terms of performance with the new methods of training, I think that we will have the best training and results yet. The team is composed of a lot of committed individuals, and the upperclassmen on the team are setting an example that will positively influence the younger runners. Everything is going to be a-OK," Alanis said.

The team's runners are Henrik Nylund, Lucas Lopez, Charlie Hoffman, Jack Costa, Taylor Dyal, Adam Tamimi, Ezekiel Maletych, Conrado Acevedo Batiz, Ethan McFarland, Austin Alanis, Andrew Becker, Faith Gioia, Mikayla Gioia, Isabella Ford and Abigayle Ford.

As for team performance and morale, the captain said that everyone is off to a great start and shares his excitement for tradition and unity amongst the cross-country runners. After the meet, the team ate dinner together, something they hadn't done in a long time together.