There was a big race on September 20th at Concord. The JV race was 2 miles; Varsity was 3. PV’s Cross Country team had 11 people going to the De La Salle meet, just 5 girls and 6 guys. De La Salle High School started their Cross Country [XC] program back in 1965, and this year’s meet was sponsored by Nike. Veronika Aleksandrova, Emmett Kendall and Julie Plummer each chose 1 person to interview before and after their races. The chosen people were Taylor West, who just started her first XC season in high school, but has had some experience back in middle school, Grant Proctor, who has been running track since 7th grade and started doing XC his sophomore year, and Emily Arnold, who has been running since 6th grade; she’s always been a great and competitive runner.
Here’s an interview by Veronika Aleksandrova with Taylor West, a sophomore at PV.
When asked what her goal was for this upcoming race, Taylor replied “My goal is to run under 15 minutes.” Talking about her emotions before starting the race, she stated, “I’m feeling very nervous and stressed but also very excited!” and, “I’m concerned about the hill in the race.” Finally, the last question for Taylor was if she was excited for the beginning of her first Cross Country season, to which she responded, “This would be my second Cross Country race, so I’m very excited for this season!”
After her race, Taylor was interviewed once more. “I did meet some of my goals but not all of them. I was definitely proud of my teammates for this race though, they worked very hard,” Taylor stated when asked if she met her goals. “My advice is that you need to have a good mindset, and, or, try to be mentally strong and focused. This race was especially tough, so the mindset would really help and play a big role.” When asked what she was thinking during the race, Taylor responded, “Before the race started I was thinking about positive thoughts and just telling myself that I got this and my teammates are going to do great as well! During the race, I was just trying to make it up that hill and to not slow down after that hill. So, I was just trying to finish the race as fast as I could, so I was focusing on that,” Taylor is proud of her race and will be putting in the work to improve with her teammates.
Here is an interview with Grant Proctor by Emmett Kendall before the race:
When asked what results he was looking for, Grant replied with, “Looking for results based on my effort. Not about the placement, more about how much effort I put into the race. Time-wise, between 17 minute, 3 mile.” Grant does not care too much about his placement, but what matters to him is how he feels about it. On the topic of the team’s improvement he’s seen over the years, Grant said, “I’ve noticed that overtime we used to be more individual and over time the team has grown and has become one. We’ve really become a team.” Cross country is not an individual sport, even during races. How your teammates place plays a big role in how the team does as a whole. While during practices running with your teammates can push you into going farther and faster then you know you could. When asked how he thought his teammates would do in the upcoming race, Grant replied, “Justin will do really well. Excited to see how Caleb and Issac will do. Julie will do really well. I’m interested in how Veronika and Taylor will do, because they’re really similar also.” Grant trusts and believes in his team, which shows how close the athletes are in PV’s Cross Country team.
Finally, Grant was asked, “Are you worried or stressed about how you and your team will do?” To which he responded, “I have faith in my teammates and faith they will do well. I have more faith in how much effort everybody will put into the race.” This truly shows that Grant trusts his team and doesn’t care about their placement, but he cares how they feel they did and if they put their max effort into the race.
After the race, Emmett Kendall spoke with Grant and asked if he got the results he was hoping for. Grant stated, “The race did not go as I wanted it to. Everything before the race that could’ve gone wrong did. I’m not too upset about my time, but it would have been better.” Even when Grant said that everything bad that could have happened did happen, he is still satisfied about how he did. He doesn’t let that race affect how he performs right now. “What I like to do [before a race] is to sit at our tent and just breathe, put my headphones in and turn it up. Then I’ll visualize the race before it happens.” Breathing is a very important thing in every sport. It helps calm your mind and keeps you focused. “Before the starting line I tried not to stress and I would just breathe to calm myself down. When walking to the starting line my mind only focuses on the start of the race when the gun goes off. I don’t focus on what will happen during the race, I only focus on the start. Then just like the starting of the race compared to the finish, for both I focus on starting and ending strong. As soon as I’m done running I feel all the feelings of how it sucked, then when I’m completely done and am at the tent again that’s when I feel proud that I did the race.” After any game or race, you will always have the feeling of how it was bad, how it sucked and how you should’ve done way better. It’s okay to have these feelings, it’s normal, but after having them you should also think about how you could improve. Then you should always be happy that you played the game or raced and finished, no matter if you did really bad or really good.
Here’s an interview by Julie Plummer with Emily Arnold before the meet.
When asked what her goals were for the upcoming De La Salle meet, Emily responded, “I am going to do my best and hopefully get a season record. I am excited to run with my team–I am so excited that we have a good team this year.” When asked how she mentally prepares before a race, Emily said, “I prioritize a good night’s sleep the night before, and visualize myself finishing the race.”
After the meet, Julie asked Emily if she was able to achieve her goals for the race, to which she replied, “It was a good starting point. I am excited for the rest of the season. I learned that I need a very thorough warm-up, and a solid sleep the night before.” When asked what motivates her on tougher days than usual, Emily’s response was, “I know that I need to put in the work for the team.” Emily is excited for what the rest of the season will bring, and motivated to continue putting in the hard work.
All the runners raced really well at De La Salle overall. Everybody on the Cross Country team has their own goals for the races and the season. These three chosen athletes: Taylor West, Grant Proctor, and Emily Arnold have achieved some of their goals, and if they didn’t get some of them done this time, our Pleasant Valley High School should know that they will put the work in. These athletes will achieve all the goals they have right now, and set up new ones that will help them improve as individuals and as a team.
