So far, the West High Girls Cross Country team has participated in 3 meets, including the Woodbridge Invitational and the 5-Way Bay League meet at Polliwog Park. At the Woodbridge Invitational, the race was divided into freshmen, sophomores, JV, and Varsity races. The Varsity girls demonstrated outstanding performance as they came in 3^rd place out of the 34 schools that were part of this event.

The athletes set higher goals for themselves as they break their records and put an immense amount of effort into their practices and races. Eunice Kim, a sophomore, is in her first year of cross country and has run in two meets so far in this season. One challenge she is facing is managing time between practices and schoolwork. For preparation for upcoming meets, Eunice is striving to do her best and stay committed to attending every practice. When asked what her expectations were, she replied with a smile, “I hope to improve and get better.”

Nazneen Peracha, a freshman, is also in her first year of cross country. At the beginning of the season, her personal struggle was not being able to take part in the regular practices because she had been fasting as part of her religion. But now, she can resume the workouts and participate in the races. Nazneen believes that she was “pretty good” at the Polliwog park race and expects to do better as the season progresses. She commented, “Core is exhausting”, which shows the hard work that athletes put into their practices.

Along with rigorous abdominal exercises, athletes also run practice routes to prepare for the 3-mile races. Some of the courses include Woodchips (a course near Hermosa Beach that is a trail of woodchips), Hermosa Beach, the Sepulveda 2-mile loop, and Flags (runners must run to this point where there are tall, colorful flags, near Redondo Beach).

The events that are coming up include the Jog-a-Thon (a 10-mile race for fundraising and for competition) on October 3, the 5-Way League meet at Peninsula High School on October 15, and the Mt. Sac Invitational on October 23.