By Elizabeth Goldman
Sports Editor
On Saturday, Mira Costa Cross Country competed in its second meet of the season, the 40th Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic. The Mustangs ran hard, setting two new official records, along with multiple personal records.
Girls and boys Varsity came in 4th and 5th place, respectively, both with a score of 177. Senior Dylan Oberst led the girls, coming in 30th, and sophomore Luke Graham led the boys, placing 22nd. According to junior Drew Martin, it was nice to be able to compete again, after not having a season last year due to COVID.
“The last time we went to Woodbridge was in 2019. We come back to this and it just felt really good,” Martin said. “We had a lot of times we are really proud of and it’s all about those individual times that really make our day.
In the girls three mile sweepstakes, Costa placed 7th with a score of 301. Senior Dalia Frias led the team, placing first and setting a new Woodbridge course record of 15:43.5. According to Frias, the team did really well at staying controlled and being smart.
“Our training has proved that it is working and each person on this team is only getting stronger,” Frias said. “Breaking this record really made me realize how much stronger I am getting and it was a great way to get this season started.”
In the boys three mile sweepstakes, Costa placed 9th with a score of 318. The team started off towards the pack, but continued to move up, with senior Seamus O’Meara led the team, coming in at 58th place, followed by junior Drew Martin and sophomore Parker Stickney at 61st and 64th place.
“As a team, our strength is our togetherness and our perseverance and we really emphasize that in our workout plans,” Martin said. “Our coach pushes us to our limits and we feed off of each other [during races]. I think last night was a perfect demonstration of our strengths.”
Stickney set a new record for Costa’s sophomore 3 mile time by 18 seconds, running 15:03.4. According to Stickney, having his teammates near him motivated him to keep pushing himself to the limit.
“Just going out there and just pushing myself to the limit felt really good and it’s really fun having a record now,” Stickney said. “We run really well as a pack so [seeing the people] I run with every day during the race just made me really motivated.”
Select individuals from Costa’s cross country teams will compete in the Nike Invitational in Portland, Oregon next weekend, September 24 through 26.
“Next week we have [the Nike invitational] which is really exciting,” Martin said. “We haven’t been able to do one of those for like a million years so that’s really fantastic.”
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