Samo’s Cross Country team Greets 2013 with New Goals

Samo’s cross country team plans to make the 2013 season one to remember by breaking history. The goal is to make it as a team to California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) finals or state, something that has never been accomplished by a Samo cross country team.“We have a chance this year with both the girls’ and boys’ team,” cross country coach Tania Fischer said. “We have put in longer summer training and have raised the expectations in our practices.”The greatest difference from this past summer’s challenging training to the previous summer’s training is the distance that the runners ran per week. The team usually would run four miles as a hard workout, but runners this year amped their run up to six to seven miles in a given day.Samo’s cross country team plans to make the 2013 season one to remember by breaking history. The goal is to make it as a team to California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) finals or state, something that has never been accomplished by a Samo cross country team.“We have a chance this year with both the girls’ and boys’ team,” cross country coach Tania Fischer said. “We have put in longer summer training and have raised the expectations in our practices.”The greatest difference from this past summer’s challenging training to the previous summer’s training is the distance that the runners ran per week. The team usually would run four miles as a hard workout, but runners this year amped their run up to six to seven miles in a given day.“Instead of running 35 miles a week all easy for a summer, the top varsity boys were mostly running around 60 miles a week and we were including more difficult workouts in our weeks,” Captain Jahangir Habib (’14) said. “As a result, we’re all stronger and faster.”Another part of the new cross country workout regime includes an emphasis on cross-training. According to Fischer this maintains athletes’ fitness and helps them stay injury free, since running is tough on the body and hard on knees and shins.Captain Arden Lasalle (’14) is one of the many runners who is benefitting from the recent cross-training.“I myself have been cross training on a stationary bike because I tweaked my heel and needed to take some time off running,” Lasalle said. “It has been very helpful.”The girls especially have been doing much more cross-training since, due to the mileage that was added to their workouts, the amount of injuries has risen. In order to stay in shape, cross-training becomes vital.“Just because one is injured, it does not mean that he or she can just rest and do nothing,” runner Jessica Bonilla (’15) said. “Work still must be done whether it be biking, swimming or just ab workouts. We plan to make it to state and we won’t get there by sitting on our butts.”Recently Fischer has made many of the injured girls cross-train by swimming workouts in the pool every Wednesday, a workout that is very different from what they’re used to.“Personally, I’m not a strong swimmer, but every time I get into the pool I just say to myself that this is only helping and making me stronger,” Bonilla said. “Yes, these workouts will and do keep us in shape though they aren’t always easy. It’s harder to run underwater than it is on land, but in the end, it all helps.”With a fresh workout plan and raised goals the cross country team starts their season on the right foot.“We are excited to see how our new, tougher training schedule will make us more competitive among the elite teams in California,” Habib said.This is one of the strongest cross country teams that Samo has seen in years and the team plans to use that to its full advantage. With the addition of 17 new freshmen girls, the team is growing more than ever before. Workouts are longer and more specialized, teammates are more motivated and the team is more focused as a whole.“We want to raise the bar for Samo cross country in the future, and ultimately go to the State meet every year from now on,” Lasalle said.The cross country team has transformed into a different team to say the least. According to assistant coach Harley Richardson, this year’s team is referred to as “Samo 2.0” and runners need not to focus on past accomplishments but look forward for state.“We are a new group this year,” Richardson said. “This is our time to show what we are capable of doing, and this year I know we can accomplish that.”