Girls Cross Country broke several Personal Records (PR) and Season Records (SR) during the Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic on Sept. 20. Overall, there were 14 PR and SRs achieved for Portola High girls side and 26 for boys side across all team levels.
Varsity PRs were broken by sophomores Azra Gereck and Audrey Lin and junior Zoe Leong, while Varsity SRs were broken by juniors Shriya Viswanathan and Karly Chokry and seniors Ella Bailey and Issy Guilfoile. With almost 100 schools flying in from all over the country to attend this two-day meet, the Bulldogs made an exceptional mark to start off the season, according to Team Manager and senior Connor Hsiao.
“I think the team did more preparation than last year, especially mental preparation, because cross country can really be like a mind game,” varsity girls runner and junior Karly Chokry said. “We had a team meeting where we had to fill out our strategy for the week. Like trying to get enough sleep, what we are trying to aim for and what we’re going to do during the race.”
The varsity team raced last on Sept. 19, encouraged by an optimistic start for the team as Portola High’s novice race placed second overall for girls for the second year in a row. Ultimately, seven girls varsity runners achieved new records, all of whom broke their former records by over a minute.
“On the girls’ side, our varsity group is close in times, which makes them very competitive,” head cross country coach Brittany Frymire said. “We’re looking forward to seeing how they score and push each other this season.”
The length of the meet and flatness of the course led to a competitive environment and lots of opportunities for runners to break their personal records. To prepare for the meet, the team focused on improving their stamina and recovery during practices, according to Hsiao.
“We’re trying new programming and it looks like we’re trying to aim to increase the mileage on harder workouts,” Hsiao said. “But then we also want to start trying to actively recover more, so we’re doing a lot more band work, and it’s not just stretches.”
The next cross country meet will be the Laguna Hills Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 27.
