The cross country team brought a successful season full of personal records to a close this November.

Captain Pramith Reddy (12) said that the general goal that the team set for the season  was to collectively improve their personal records and beat both Mission and James Logan High Schools.

“Our team’s goal is simple. Get better every week. Always push for the PR [personal record]. Everyone on the team set a new personal best by the end of the year. They all had great performances and showed great improvements as runners,” coach David Thomson said.

The varsity boys won 1 match and lost 7, while the varsity girls won six meets and lost two. The junior varsity boys and girls, received 5 wins and 3 losses, and 3 wins and 5 losses, respectively. Freshmen and Sophomore boys won 5 meets and lost three.

As for the team’s performance and record, coach Thomson said, “The performances and individual times were great, but the meet results didn’t always reflect that. I couldn’t be happier with the times they ran, they showed a lot of heart with how they ran and how they trained.”

Athletes that stood out this season were Myrthe Bellers (11), who took first place at MVALs, Jeffrey Chang (11), and Rajdeep Summan (9).

As for the team’s weaknesses this year, Reddy said, “ There was a lack of experience, and we ran at Coyote Hills multiple times, which is a very difficult and tiring course to run.”

He is sure that next year, however, returning runners will have more experience and feel more comfortable running the courses. Coach Thomson echoed the sentiment, saying, “I’m extremely excited for next year. All the young talent we developed this year has brought our competition for the 7 varsity spots to a new intensity, and I can’t wait to see how everyone takes this season’s success into their prep and training for next season.”
Paloma Zuerlein (11), who is on the varsity girls team, noted that she fulfilled her main goal this season to improve her personal record.

Both Zuerlein and Reddy listed their favorite part of the season as the tradition of the Squirrel Song, where the team sings a song about a stuffed squirrel in someone’s pants before each meet. “It used to be an Irvington tradition, but now, we’ve kind of gotten the entire league involved,” Reddy said.

Overall, Irvington’s cross country team had a successful season and is looking forward to an even better one next year.

“This season was a great step forward for us. We have depth and speed at every level, and are in a great spot for sustained success in the coming years,” coach Thomson said.