Mustang Cross-Country battles for 2nd in conference

The Mustang Cross-Country team is battling for second place in the conference race and making it out of regionals this year.

The cross-country team has experienced a promising season so far, the freshmen group has been exceeding coaches’ expectations and the varsity team has been getting better each meet getting closer and closer to becoming a pack and times are getting tighter and competition for the top seven is getting fierce, the sophomore group is doing well for their season.

This year’s XC team is one with lots of surprises.

“Very surprised with how well the freshman is doing right now. Normally they take more time to get race ready, but this year they are much farther ahead now compared to years past,” coach Eric Kraft said.

This year’s competition for state is very tough.

“I think we always have a chance. Anything can happen with any race. If guys show up and follow coach blooms plan, I think we have a shot,” coach Eric Kraft said.

The freshmen team is strong this year.

“The Freshman as a whole. Very impressed with where they are as a group right now,” coach Eric Kraft said.

Coaching for XC is not easy.

“Change of seasons. Very hot at the beginning and then possible snow at the end. Change of seasons is crazy,” coach Eric Kraft said.

Rankings are unknown.

“Rankings I would have no clue, unfortunately,” coach Eric Kraft said.

Cross Country is a very underrated sport.

“Cross is a sport that I never competed in growing up. So learning a whole new sport and seeing how much my freshman grow to when they compete as seniors are something pretty cool to me,” coach Eric Kraft said.

Cross country is a sport that requires commitment and time.

“Season is going well after a full summer of running.  (We have a) young team due to several key seniors graduating.  This is a rebuilding year and we will get stronger as the year goes on,” coach Robert Anderson said.

Covid-19 had a huge impact on all sports alike even cross country.

“(This year’s) contenders for number one on the tech are junior Manny Soto and senior Fernando Quintana.  Freshman Alex Rodriguez is exceeding expectations and stands out as well.  It is very hard to be in the top 10 and be a young runner,” coach Robert Anderson said.

Alex Rodriguez is the third athlete ever to be on the varsity team as a freshman.

“Toughest part about being an XC coach is getting athletes to understand the difference in feeling sore and actually being injured, we should make it out of regionals, (Top 7 teams advance) it will be very hard to get out of sectionals, (six teams advance out of 21)” coach Robert Anderson said.

There are many pros to being a cross-country runner.

“We have the chance to run all year, with cross country and track, in cross country, everyone can run each week, we have about 55 athletes on our current roster,” coach Robert Anderson said.