The Coronado cross country team arrived at their own Cougar Classic looking for breakthrough performances, and breakthrough performances they got! The team pulled together a stellar performance on the flat and fast course at Monument Valley Park last Thursday, September 20. Not only that, but the Cougars finally retired their 28 season year old singlets and brought out their new “Coronado” emblazoned jerseys.

The boys team made another strong showing of their pack running strategy this week, and finished the race with four runners in the top 25. Leading the team in was senior Ben Swanson, who cracked 17 minutes for the first time with his time of 16:55. Only two places and two seconds behind Swanson was freshman Z Engstrom, who finished the race in 16:57 for fourteenth place. The feat of getting two runners under 17 minutes was quite a feat for the team. Coach Stoughton thought the performance was amazing for this time in the season, and that they “have really solid front four,” and is “hoping that they can keep the momentum as we head toward the postseason”.

Ben Hayes-Lemmon, 11, shocked the team with his near 20 second PR and 17th place finish to cross the finish line third for the team. Charlie Schroeder, 11, came in soon after with a new personal best as well. This quality quartet helped the Cougars cinch fourth place as a team.

A few hours later, the JV boys busted out a number of their own speedy races. First to finish was varsity regular Mark Bloomfield, who ran a PR by more than 35 seconds to finish in the top five for the race. Behind him, however, a two man race had commenced between sophomore Miles Medina and senior Connor McCarrie. The pair sprinted to the finish line side by side, finishing in right around 19:15.

The girls experienced a considerably more competitive race than in years past: 15 girls, compared to only six last year, broke 20 minutes. Senior Maddy Morland brought her A-game to the race and emerged with a time of 19:33 and an eleventh place finish. Faith Roth, 12, Ary Mascarenas, 9, Shauna Mackay, 12, came through the finish line one after the other over the next two minutes, aiding the team to a sixth place finish. Absent from the team’s typical lineup were Avah Houger, 9, and Grace Abernethy, 11.

The team offered a glimpse of their potential (and their sparkly new singlets) at the Cougar Classic, and only two weeks out from CSMLs, the team is working hard on workouts to put their best foot forward in the coming weeks.

Congrats Cougars on your speedy running and superior conga line-ing!