Cross country competes at district

Freshman runner earns spot to compete at regionals

Menefee

Varsity girls take off at the beginning of their district race. Freshman Victoria Brooks will compete at regionals.

Alani Jones, Editorial Team
October 12, 2022

Last Monday morning, cross country runners competed at district in Fairfield, with one runner earning a spot to run at regionals later this month.

Freshman Victoria Brooks will represent Buffalo High School at the regional race in Huntsville.

“While I was running, I was counting the people in front of me,” senior Brandon Almeida said. “I just kept pushing myself to have a better time.”

Junior Emma Cocking comes into a clearing during the district competition Monday. Cocking has run cross country since she was a freshman. (Menefee)

The team has been using a modified version of a state powerhouse Cross Country program in Utah to train and get ready for the district meet and has been running in invitational meets weekly.

“We ran for about 40 to 50 minutes a day,” Almeida said. “Sometimes we also did timed sprints. We pushed to train as well as we could to be ready for Monday.

Returning runners knew that the trail and the race would be tough.

“My overall goal was just to do better than last year,” sophomore Julyan Woods said. “My motivation during the race came from Dory’s phrase in Finding Nemo: just keep swimming, but instead I just kept running.”