Olympics Highlight: Before you read any further, please take a look at this video of the 2024 USA Olympic Trials 1500m women’s final. Nikki Hiltz won the CCS 1600 a decade ago, and now they are heading to the Olympics!  Look at their smile after the race!

MVXC24 Highlight: 

So that you can start planning, here is some exciting news for the 2024 season…MVXC will be heading back to Mt. SAC in 2024! Mt. SAC is arguably the premier high school cross-country invitational in the country, with 12,000 runners competing in more than 100 races. We have not been down to this race since 2019, when our freshman girls scored a second place and the varsity boys took fourth. I think it’s time we go back…back to Mt. SAC!

There will be more details coming later. For now, mark your calendars:

  • Race Date: Friday, October 25, 2024.
  • Travel*: We will leave by bus on Thursday, October 24th, at 6 a.m. and return by 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 26***.
  • Who will race: All dedicated cross-country runners**. This is not a varsity-only race. There are races for everyone, and we will take every dedicated MVXC athlete–our goal is to fill up the bus.
  • First-year athletes? Yes! Freshmen and other first-year athletes will also be invited. So encourage your friends who are thinking about trying cross-country for the first time to come and run, experience our team for the first time, and get ready to travel to the best meet ever—plus Disneyland!
  • Surprise! As I understand it now, we will be racing late on Friday morning. So, after we race, the plan will be to head back to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes and then head to Disneyland for six hours!
  • Cost: I’m still working on a budget for the race and I’ll publish the cost for each athlete. We will do all we can so that cost does not prevent anyone from attending this trip.
  • Optional: This race and Disney trip is optional, no one has to come. 
  • Parents: We could bring a few parent volunteer helpers.

I am very excited about this trip, and I hope you are also! The pandemic messed up a lot of our rituals, and seeing my athletes compete at Mt. SAC was a highlight for me–I want to bring you back. And the way the schedule should work, adding in Disneyland will be a treat–and not just for you. I might come back with my personal lightsaber.

I want to take my kids to Mt. SAC, and I want to see you all have fun at Disneyland!

Things can change but…my plan is to make this happen! Pencil in the dates.

*Details might change but this is the initial plan.

**What do I mean by dedicated? Dedicated means athletes who are consistently at practice, working hard. Dedicated athletes are athletes who are at every one of our races, competing to the best of their abilities, cheering and supporting their teammates, unless they were so ill they were absent from school–an athlete should attend the regular races before the ‘special’ races. This is the standard we expect from all our team members. We are not taking only the ‘fast’ runners, we are taking the dedicated runners.

***Yes we will miss two days of school. But other programs at MV schedule trips that last a week or more and students still keep their grades at a high level. I know you can, also!