 In a sport that’s governed by time, it’s always surprising how relative time can seem. Fifteen minutes can feel like a geolithic age within the heat of racing; it can pass like a hiccup once you cross the finish. Runners train to recognize what a five minute mile feels like but it feels like something else after you’ve already run two. There’s an unpronounceable gap between the clock and the body. The Conference Meet is special because we arrive and race with bodies in peak condition. Every muscle is set; every capillary is open. For all but twelve of our guys, the season ends in the chute, so they arrive prepared to push themselves through a hard 15-25 minutes, regardless of how it feels.  The afternoon began with the Freshman/Sophomore Race. Our youngsters entered the meet coming off a pair of narrow victories the past two invitationals and eager to extend their streak to five straight conference championships. Hammering the mud-rutted trails and leaning hard into the turns, Rodrigo Alvarez-Gonzalez (2nd, 16:00), Chris Keeley (3rd, 16:02), and Michael Madiol (4th, 16:06) broke the lead chase pack in the last half mile. Nick Drechsler (7th, 16:20) put an exclamation mark on his season, and Michael O’Connor (17th, 16:37) finished a gutsy race on 1½ working hips. Matt Jett (16:37), Spencer Teske (16:40), and Jack Orengo (16:45) ran tall, and season’s best times came from Quinn Kennedy (17:26), Ramsay Johnson (17:27), Kevin Daneliak (17:29), Blake Storoe (17:46), Luke Huenecke (18:26), Dylan Bushelle (18:29), Sam Stuart (18:32), Josh Rodriguez (18:44), Rahul Kohl (18:47), Chris Guo (19:08), Aditya Sathyaprakash (19:17), Joey Spencer (19:29), Adam Gutierrez (19:38), Nate Spencer (19:45), Hadi Moukallad (20:27), James Teune (20:33), Kevin Shaffer (21:47), Ethan Smetana (21:53), and Trent Sebring (23:31).  Coming off their seismic performance at Twilight, the Varsity squad was tasked with defending a decade-long championship streak at Conference. Few wildcats have ever prepared as intensely for battle than Jake McEneaney (1st, 14:51), who won his first ever varsity race to claim the crown as Conference Champion. He was trailed by sophomore Zach Kinne (2nd, 14:59), seniors Jackson Jett (3rd, 15:00), Matt Milostan (4th, 15:04), and Scott “Scandy” Anderson (6th, 15:17). “Captain” Josh Mollway (7th, 15:18) and Jeremy Hayhurst (8th, 15:19) closed out the race with a near-perfect score of 16, our third best conference finish ever.  The highlight of the day, however, was the Open Race, which proved a fitting capstone to the high school XC career for many of our seniors. Ryan Kennedy submitted one of the most impressive races of the day, running 15:25 all by himself to claim the Open title. Fellow juniors Tyler Bombacino (2nd, 15:45) and Alex Johnson (4th, 15:59) finished shortly after, and a recuperating Josh Patel (13th, 16:27) and flinty Evan McVittie (16th, 16:34) sealed the team title. The ordinarily serene Erik Huenecke (16:39) thundered in next, and Alan Poe (16:44), Keanan Ginell (16:47), and Dakota Getty (16:48) shot into the chute seconds later. Several juniors ran sterling times, including DJ Sauer (16:57), Daniel Speckels (17:08), Quinton Quagliano (17:10), “Professor” Matt Lindell (17:34), Paul McIntyre (17:34), Michael Dy (17:43), John Kubicki (17:45), Austin Nguyen (17:53), Calvin McIntyre (17:58), and David Botos (18:10), and Blake Reichert (18:30). But the day belonged to the seniors, who made the most of their last trip around the field. Season highlights came from Joe Tarszowicz (17:17), Paul Neubauer (17:17), Isaiah Robinson (17:29), Wookie rights activist Rishi Pandey (17:40), Michael Vivo (18:00), Nick Mitchell (18:08), Nick Pemberton (18:28), Josh Covarubias (18:35), Jairaj Narendran (18:37), Homecoming luminary Sam Ellis (18:41), Cory Harland (18:42), Javed Mohamed (18:43), Garrett Hazdra (18:47), Mason Crockett (18:48), Soham Soha (18:54), Conrad Tkacz (19:14), Jake Anderson (20:08), Nick Beatty (20:10), Omna Berhane (23:39), and Shiv Nigam (23:58). Watching Joe Letourneau—a middle-of-the-pack runner who changed the NVXC culture with his humor and camaraderie—was one of dozens of moments of quiet revelation from the senior class. Letourneau ran himself to exhaustion, collapsing in the chute, only to be swarmed by his friends, his teammates, his brothers. They hauled him to his feet, holding on to one another—and the moment—for just a little longer. And ultimately, that’s the lesson of four years of Cross Country—time and distance are relative. When you’re a freshman, a five mile run can seem a vast desert, but a few trips through the calendar can shrink it to a patch of sand. And a high school career which began miles and years from fruition yields its harvest in too short a season. Runners know this, as do their fathers and mothers, brother and sisters. The race goes by quickly, and every second counts.  Comments are closed.
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