Below is the schedule for the 2024 Monta Vista Cross Country season!  You may download and print a schedule here.

Please note that this schedule is subject to change so please check back here for updates.  We are SURE that there will be additions, changes to times and dates, and drops to this schedule.

Meet sheets will be downloadable from this page a few days prior to the date of each event.

Paperwork/Before Joining The Team

All the required paperwork is available on the Matador Athletics website.  Here you will find everything you need to get cleared to join the team.  You may NOT join the team and you may NOT practice with the team until everything on this list has been completed and approved by the school trainer Ms. Myesha or by Mr. Bonacorsi. If you are reading this you have not had your annual physical yet–go ask your parents to schedule your annual physical, right now, as soon as a doctor’s appointment is available.  Doctor schedules will fill up as the new season gets closer and there is always someone who can’t get their physical done on time.  Don’t be ‘that guy’. 🙂  Get your physical complete right now!  If your doctor does not have an available appointment, a walk in urgent care center, and some CVS stores, will also complete your physical for you.

Consider asking for a serum ferritin test when you have your physical done–this is really valuable.  So far, of the kids that I know that have been tested, more than 80% have had results that required some form of iron supplementation.  Many college cross country teams require athletes to have a complete blood panel before joining their team!  Everyone should be tested!  Iron is critical for endurance athletes’ performance and their enjoyment of our sport.  Find out why here and here.

Monta Vista Athletic Boosters

Athletes please help direct your parents to the Monta Vista Boosters site to join Boosters on behalf of the Cross Country team.  Parents, please join today!  Without this funding, we would not be able to function as we do.  Public education is cash-strapped and without the support of MVAB, our athletics program would not be anywhere near what we know and enjoy today.  Parents, please join today, your coach would appreciate your early help!

Monta Vista Cross Country 2024

A Few Important Notes

Monta Vista Cross Country is a Competitive Team, it is not a club

We want to have fun and learn to be gritty and improve…and we do that all together.

Your coaches and teammates care more about how committed you have chosen to be to your team and your own improvement than we care about the genetic gifts you inherited.  Anyone has the ability to decide to work hard, improve, and be the best they can be.  No one said this would be easy—discipline and hard work will pay off and you will see improvements.  Your individual choices and actions will not only determine your personal results, your commitment and choices will have an impact on the entire team.  You have an impact on everyone—athletes who are faster than you, athletes who are slower than you, athletes who are thinking about joining the team or dropping the team, your coaches—you have an impact on them all. .Athletes will not be cut for athletic performance, however athletes will be cut for lack of effort or for poor attitudes, in the sole judgment of your coaches. Half-hearted effort, starting the season without any training to prepare for regular running, lateness or unexcused absences, cutting out early, being a distraction and similar behavior does not help the athlete or the team.  We want you to be part of an activity that you care about, and activity where you will commit your best effort!  We hope that you care about cross country enough to make this your most important extracurricular this Fall, but if there is something else more important to you let’s do that!

Earning PE or Elective Credit

PE credit is school credit; if you want credit for the track, you should think of the cross country as a class, not as an after-school activity.  You would not blow off a class constantly, and not turn in assignments, and expect to get a passing grade.  In order to earn PE Credit, you have the following requirements.

• You may miss no more than 5 practices during the season. Practice starts August 10.  We will take attendance every day.
  • It is an absence if you are late to practice and we have started our workout without you.
  • It is an absence if you leave before practice ends (for example, if you are leave before the core work at the end of practice, or you are not on the run with us).
  • You may miss a practice if you are sick and you do not attend school that day due to sickness. If you can attend school, we expect you at practice that day.  Do not come to school at all if you feel sick (after two years of COVID, if you have not learned to stay home when you feel ill at all, I am speechless).
  • You may not miss a team competition unless excused: Watermelon, all league meets, Lynbrook, Lagoon Valley, Nike DLS, Artichoke or a meet that replaces one of these. You may miss a meet if you are sick and do not attend school that day due to sickness (or for a Saturday meet, if you do not attend school either the Friday before or the Monday after).  If you are at school, come and race or support your teammates; if you are at school, we expect to see you at the meet.  PLEASE STAY HOME IF YOU FEEL THE LEAST BIT ILL. Please don’t come to school, be patient zero and infect your entire math class, then go home and not attend practice.
• If you are injured and will not be able to run for an extended period:
  • Bring a doctor’s written note explaining the injury and the rehabilitation proscribed.
  • You must still come to practice; you can exercise, help with team tasks or do homework. (You may miss practice if you have physical therapy or training scheduled for your injury during practice, and have provided coaches with contact information for your therapist).
  • You must still come to meets; you can cheer on your teammates.

If you cannot meet these attendance requirements, at the coaches’ discretion we may allow you to be part of the team however you will not earn PE credit.  Let us know up front if you do not intend to try to earn PE credit so we can discuss your level of commitment up front; talking to your coaches/teachers/supervisors up front is mature.

Excused Absences

An absence may be excused at the coaches’ discretion.  The request is more likely to be granted if:

1. You have a chance for a unique opportunity (“I have a chance to interview Michelle Obama”.).
2. You are part of an important family event (“My grandmother having her 90^th birthday party.”)
3. A medical appointment (bring paperwork from the doctor).
4. The request is for something unique (not test review, studying for the ACT etc is not unique) and valuable academically/educationally.
5. You make the request in writing more than two weeks before the event.

There will not be an excused absence for an after-school class or club you sign up for, play a club sport, take a review session, or you want to leave early on Friday for a weekend, or do similar things.  You have 5 free absences to use for absences that are not coach-approved, so use these days wisely!  To request an excused absence, give a coach the request in writing; this request does not guarantee approval (we don’t care how far ahead you request to miss practice for a seminar on making a solid TikTok or the opening of the next Star Wars movie—we won’t grant that! 🙂

Compete:  From the Latin root words, com- [together] and petere [seek] ® competere [strive together]

SENIORS JOINING THE TEAM WHILE NEEDING PE CREDIT IN ORDER TO GRADUATE

Monta Vista track and cross country are teams, not clubs.  Please understand that you may be cut for breaking any team rule, and that you may also be cut from the team if the coaches decide, in their sole opinion, that you are not giving full effort or that you do not have a positive personal or team attitude.   You should understand and agree that while the coaches’ judgment may not seem objective, you have joined this team knowing that you are expected to be on time every day, to have a positive attitude, to cheer on your teammates, to give your best effort work hard and to improve every day rain or shine, and you trust the coaches in evaluating your effort and attitude and will accept their judgment.  If you don’t love athletics, and you don’t love working hard, thewbn an easier way to get PE credit is to join a PE class.  Being on the track team, or on the cross country team, is harder than PE class, guaranteed.

Being in reasonable shape when the season starts is an expectation.  If you are feeling sore after the first few workouts, well…that is normal.  Skipping practice and workouts because you are sore is not the way to improve.  If you are serious about being your best and serious about contributing to the track team, we expect you to be working out and have a base level of fitness before the season starts.  If you arrive out of shape and cannot keep up with basic training, we may cut you for your own safety and health and for the integrity of practice for the dedicated athletes who have been training in the winter off-season.

You understand that if you are cut, and you needed PE credit to graduate, you will not graduate with your class.

If you think this is not reasonable, and you don’t trust the coaches’ judgment, then you don’t have to join the cross country team—you can simply join a PE class.   You can earn PE credit in a PE class with no risk.  If you join the track team, there is no guarantee that you will earn PE credit.

Working hard to become our best is not a sacrifice—this is simply what we do.