The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams attended their sixth meet at The Palos Verdes Cross Country Course on Oct.11. The boys finished first out of 11 teams, and the girls finished fourth out of six teams. Charles Abemayor ’26 placed fourth with a time of 10:19, and Saisha Kumar ’25 also placed fourth with a time of 13:13 in the girls’ race. Two years ago at the same meet, only two Wolverines were able to break 11 minutes in the two-mile race. This year, four runners earned times under 11 minutes.
Abemayor said the boys’ team’s improvement was a result of their willingness to work hard and adapt.
“Everyone on varsity is running more and training harder,” Abemayor said. “We’ve adjusted big things and small things that have made us all a lot faster. A lot of times it’s the little things like our mechanics that can slow us down even if it’s just something small. Obviously in practice we run a ton but it’s just as important to make sure we have the right form.”
Oona Sils ’26 said the team has been preparing well for important upcoming races.
“We’ve been training months for this,” Sils said. “Coach Sharpe has made it so we as a team start peaking when it matters most through his practices.”
Abemayor said the team is focused on their upcoming league and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) meets.“Even though we raced last week, the larger emphasis was on the training,” Abemayor said. “We wanted to race our best but we trained throughout the week, looking forward to races like league finals and CIF. The season only has a few races left, and we hope to place highly in CIF meets and hopefully make the state meet. We will continue to train hard until then.”
Aaron Escalante ’26 said he has high expectations in the finals, not only for the team but also for himself. “Finals are one of the biggest meets of the year,” Escalante said. “Coach is expecting a lot from us, but after our last meet, we’re expecting a lot from ourselves. I was injured last year but my performance freshman year was not what I wanted and honestly I am excited to compete. We’re gonna show out.” The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams’ next meet is the Mission League Finals on Nov.5 at Pierce College.
