Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character. – T. Alan Armstrong
Monta Vista cross country rolled into Crystal Springs ready to compete. MVXC has some of the bravest athletes anywhere, and we were also well prepared; our athletes had, indeed, dedicated months and years to preparing for this race. And we may be very, very proud of what we accomplished.
First up were the girls, and this was going to be a highly competitive race for the two State Meet berths. Our team went out smart, as always, and steadily moved up. We ran in the pack that has been so effective for the last several races. At the two mile point and as the runners came around to the last 800m, it was hard to determine which two teams would prevail; both Homestead and Menlo-Atherton had three runners in the first dozen while Monta Vista had none, but then the hard-working pack of MV runners was lurking. At the end, Monta Vista’s team running proved decisive as the Matadors finished in second place, a mere six points in front of M-A! Our fifth runner, Akshara Majjiga earned hero honors for the day–think about this, Akshara recorded a 23 second PR, yet if our fifth runner was 15 seconds further back, we would have placed third! Incredible but true…and this is an example of why cross-country is a team sport. Our team ended up with an excellent 51 second time-gap (time from the first to the fifth runner). We needed all seven runners to be brave, strong and capable to succeed, not just one or two stars. And we did!
This is the third year in a row that the Monta Vista girls team has earned the honor of representing the Central Coast Section at the California State Meet…well done!
Next up were the boys, in a very tough division, but the boys lived up to their ranking. There was rough start as a nearby runner fell, forcing several runners to have to swerve and Vamsee went down. Vamsee popped up and continued to run despite being badly scraped up. Again, our team went out under control and began to move up, while Vamsee fought back to his usual position.
Brent fearlessly challenged for the second spot late in the race, and kept pushing to a strong finish in fourth place–the second year in a row that a Monta Vista boy ended up on the medal stand at CCS! Our next six runners poured in to the finish within 35 seconds of each other, giving the boys a fourth place finish in D1. This is the best finish by a Monta Vista boys’ team in more than a decade; I went back through CCS results year-by-year, and the last time the Monta Vista boys finished 4th was in 2003, when former coach Matt Paquet was the second finisher.
Wow! Great job, boys!
Despite our great results, there were several athletes that were a little downcast–many of us were hoping for PRs that did not materialize. On the course, I had the feeling that Crystal was running slower than it was during league finals; the weather looked nice but it was a little too comfortable, a little colder might have been better. Today I went back and did a little analysis. Out of our 14 runners, only two had PRs (Akshara and Jeffrey). It turns out that our results were pretty consistent with other teams results. Lynbrook had one PR out of 14 runners; Los Altos had zero PRs from their 14 runners; Saratoga managed two PRs. Bellarmine, the winners of the boys D1 race, had zero PRs themselves. So…the data says that we did really well. Conditions were not as perfect as what we had for SCVALs.
I do think it is fine that we have a team of runners that continue to push themselves towards excellence, yet I also hope that we have appreciation for what we accomplish. When you finish, it’s fine to look ahead of you to see where you would like to finish in the next race, or where you would like to finish next year. It is great to have high goals! But also, it’s OK to be proud of what you have already done. Look behind you, not just at the runners that you passed…think about all the runners that used to run, but quit, or all the good athletes who never even tried. Think of all the people you are in front of…and think of all you have accomplished. You are a true athlete, a runner, a hero, a winner. You are a good student at an elite high school and you are an elite athlete too. It’s OK to be proud of yourself! Once you have taken a moment to give yourself some credit, then you can look back ahead and see the challenges ahead of you!
You were all victorious in many ways, you are all champions, you all should be proud of your accomplishments and you can be going to sleep with smiles on your faces! Your coaches are so, so very proud of you!
Next up…the State meet, for our girls’ team and for Brent Mogensen!
Complete CCS results are at Hank Lawson’s site.
Monta Vista analysis is at XCStats.
And there are lots of photos from Mr. Ma on our Picasa site.
