Three males and two female cross country runners made
their way to complete in the Jeju Athletic Conference Invita-
tional meet on Friday, Oct. 14 to Sunday, Oct. 16 and claimed
victory taking home first, second, and third place.
Most years, the cross country team tries to go to Guam.
However, this year, because of the lack of students showing
interest, the team got the opportunity to fly out to Jeju and
race against other schools there. When not enough students
signed up to go on the trip, “we still wanted to give
1
2
3
4
6
7
them some place nice to travel with each
other and to go on a trip where they build
a community, because it is towards the
middle of the season” and the students need to
maintain motivation, Mrs. Smith, the cross country coach,
explained.
The team prepared for the KAIAC race the entire sea-
son. “I planned to work on distance first so that we had a
good base and some endurance. This whole season has been
mainly about working on endurance, and just a bit of speed.
But it was really evident in the race that the speed had helped
5 the students because they really ran a lot faster,” coach Smith
said.
For the Jeju race in particular, coach Smith really just
wanted the team to have “fun” since they wouldn’t be able to
score any points because only five out of the sixteen runners
on the team were able to go on the trip. Coach Smith said she
“wanted everybody to do really well for themselves, but also
really wanted them to build a community and to get away
from everything for a minute and have fun in a race”.
The runners, however, had some goals set for themselves
at the race. Yuhee Hong, a Junior, said her goal “was to catch
up to at least three runners in front of her”. She achieved
this goal by “thinking about the end of the race” and running
towards it.
Adam Bae, a Junior, said his goal was to beat his
8
“personal record of 21 minutes”.
”I got second place in the Jeju race and a new personal
record that I didn’t think I would be able to reach, I learned to
believe in myself and know that I can run faster”, he said.
When asked about how the runners improved throughout
the season, coach Smith said, “mentally, you think about how
far and how long you have to run and the first few practices
are really difficult because you aren’t really sure how to run a
5k, how to run three miles, how to be fast while you are doing
it, because when you first run, you feel like you are going to
pass out. But I mean now that they can run that distance, I
see them encouraging each other, pushing each other, beating
each other, and that really builds their confidence.”
“I also think that our team didn’t really have runners at
9
1. The team gather and put
the beginning of the year. We lost a lot of runners that we
their hands in for a break-out after practice. The practice was done prior to the game coming
had last year. Our team was mostly made up of freshmen and
up on Saturday at SFS. 2. Christine Nam and Kaitlyn Lee begin running as it is signaled for the
students that had never run before”, coach Smith continued.
runners to start their race. It is crucial for the runners to start the run strong and keep their pace
The placing that all five of the runners got was “jaw
steady. 3. Loukas Kang controls his breathing as he maintains his pace throughout the race. As
dropping”.
Kona Brumsickle scored first place with Adam Bae
a senior, this was his last year of being part of the team and he was nominated as a co-captain
with Adam Bae, a Junior. 4. Daniel Kim gives Ms. Portillo a high five after he finishes the 5 km in second, and Guang Tseng in third. For the girls race, Soeun
race. It is Daniel’s second year of Cross Country and he insisted he would join the season next Kim came in third and Yuhee Hong in seventh.
year as well. 5. Brian Bae assists Ethan Kim with stretching after practice. Stretching is neces-
“I am extremely proud of them. They were
sary as calves, hamstrings, and hip flexors tend to hurt after exercising. Furthermore, stretching
freshmen and for them to be doing so well and for them to
reduces a risk of injury, preventing sore muscles. 6. Yuhee Hong pats Jaime Suh on the back as
Jamie crosses the finish line. For each runner that came in, they shared words of encouragement be leaders in their team, I am so proud. We had two or three
as they were proud of finishing the strenuous race. 7. Guang Tseng takes a long stride on the freshmen that were nominated for captain and to be nomi-
way back to the school. Guang was in team B and attended the race at YISS, HHS as well as the nated for captain in your freshmen year is an incredible status
home meet. 8. Euna Chang does toe touch for cool down. The exercise helps runners stretch to gain in your team like Guang and Jamie. And I can see why
and relax their hamstrings as well as other muscles that get tense from running long distance. they were nominated, because they are positive leaders,
9. Team Photo: Top Row: Coach Cho, Coach Smith, Gabriel Shon, Kona Brumsickle, Adam Bae, Lou- although they are just freshmen,” coach Smith concluded.
kas Kang, Brian Bae, Daniel Kim, Ethan Kim, Coach Montgomery; Bottom Row: Euna Chang, Yuhee
Hong, Soeun Kim, Kaitlyn Lee, Jaime Suh, Christine Nam, Guang Tseng, Hojin Chung, Kevin Youm.
83