And We Are Off! Watermelon Run Kicks Off 2018

Before our time trial on Thursday August 30, the Monta Vista team talked about using the Watermelon Run as practice for all parts of our races, including our preparation. We talked about writing down we ate the night before and during the day, when we went to bed, how we warmed up, and other things that might help us be well prepared for our races during the season. We can continue to repeat what works for us, and continuously improve over the course of the season.

Based on the great results from our Watermelon Run, your coaches would suggest…do not lose those notes!

After a couple years of very hot Watermelons, we enjoyed a moderate day with temperatures in the 70s. Our team took full advantage of the weather. First in for the boys was sophomore Rohun Agrawal who recorded a 15:09 and an impressive 2:24 PR from his freshman time on the 2.6 mile Stevens Canyon course! Rohun’s mark was the fifth fastest all-time and the fastest ever for a sophomore. Not far behind was fellow sophomore Andrew Richardson with a 15:40 and another massive PR of 2:37. Both sophomores have clearly been putting miles in the bank since track season ended! We had heard they had been doing some work.

Junior Kyle Tsujimoto was next with a strong 16:14. Kyle has been displaying a lot of grit on a tough road back from a non-running injury, working for the last eight months to recover and regain his running fitness–and Kyle is getting very, very close. Coming back from an injury is hard, and it is easy to think about the fitness that needs to be regained as a mountain to be climbed. Anyone, not just a young person, can find it tough to face that mountain and start the climb; it’s very common for people young and old to wander off and find a reason to do something else. That is why we are always so impressed when people fight back from setbacks, we know that this is a challenge and admire those individuals that accept the challenge for themselves and their teammates. Kyle has been attacking his mountain with determination and a positive attitude that inspires his teammates and coaches.

Next in were two freshman, Sahil Goal and Justin Yu, with 16:26 and 16:43 marks. Sahil’s mark is the sixth fastest all-time freshman time on the Stevens Canyon course. They were followed by junior Nitin Subramanian at 16:58 and rounding out the group to make the 17 minute mark was yet another freshman, Matthew Sun at 17-flat. In the last four years of Watermelon Runs, the most freshman we have had in the top ten finishers was two; in 2018, we have four freshman in our top ten. With all this youth, we clearly have upside as the season gets rolling!

Triya Roy and Sarah Feng both dipped under 18 minutes (17:37 and 17:48) as the girl’s team put up some historic marks. Triya’s time was good for fifth all-time on Stevens Canyon and was a 1:22 personal record, right between Kelly Bishop and legendary Jean Feng. Sylvana Northrop had a 2:04 PR on the way to her 18:13. Freshman Jannah Sheriff’s 18:17 was the second fastest time ever recorded by a freshman, trailing only Jenny Xu in 2011 and in front of Kelly Bishop’s mark from 2013. Sophomore Rachel Jiang was clocked at 19:10–a 2:36 PR from her first try at Watermelon.

The top five MVXC girls on the day (Triya, Sarah, Sylvana, Jannah and Rachel) had an aggregate team time of 90:25–the second fastest team time ever for a Watermelon Time trial, trailing only the loaded 2014 squad and nine seconds faster than the MVXC13 team that went on win the Central Coast Section Championship! Our 2018 girls’ team is also incredibly deep; this year the girls put up ten marks at 20:02 or better, and our CCS champions only had eight girls break 20. With 2017 varsity runners Sanjana Borle and Lauren Ling getting closer to their returns, both varsity and junior varsity girls’ teams look very, very scary.

Some big personal records were testimony to some dedicated summer running by MVXC athletes. Among the girls, Vivian Cheng had a 4:23 PR (holy smokes) and Claire Lin joined Rachel and Sylvana with a two-minute plus PR to record an impressive 2:08 mark. Closely following with a 21:01 found Upasana Dilip with a mind-boggling 5:09 PR! Amazingly enough, Upasana was not the only five minute PR at the Watermelon as Alex Richardson also had a 5:02 personal record with his 17:22 mark, and sophomore Pranav Reddy scored a 4:39 PR to hit 22:36. Talent can help athletes put up good marks, but personal records reflect effort, work and grit and are one of the first things that your coaches look at after a time trial, race or workout–in distance running there is no substitute for consistent work, effort and a positive attitude. A complete list of PRs is below.

The Watermelon Run always feels like a big milestone in the season, and 2018 was no exception. The season feels real now! And the team looks strong and cohesive and ready to go. Next Saturday, September 8, MVXC will head down to Salinas for the Chieftain-Spirit Classic and take the next step by racing against other teams on the Toro Park course.

This is such a good team! If we simply continue the same good work and attitude, we are going to have a lot of success and a lot of fun!

Complete Watermelon results are available on XCStats. Mr. Ma has posted some excellent photos.