The Brave News

by Caleb Wiley

Coming into their 2018 season with just two returning seniors, the St. John Bosco Cross-Country team overachieved all year, finishing second place in the loaded Trinity League and now running for the CIF playoffs.

Any team lacking experience will go through challenges, no matter how talented or how hard they work. That’s exactly what the Bosco Cross-Country team suffered through this season. Early on in the year, the team showed their inexperience on the track, starting out not very strong.

“We started the season very slowly with us being a very young team. Struggles were definitely there,” said Head Coach Tim McIntosh.

Most of the team from last season was made up of talented seniors, leaving only two returning runners this year to the Varsity squad, which resulted in many sophomores and juniors moving up to Varsity.

“It’s more or less confidence issues, because it’s different running a Frosh-Soph or JV race then running Varsity. It’s hard,” said Coach McIntosh.

With these growing pains, the team lacked a true leader all season. No one stepped up to be the voice and motivate this young team.

“We kind of lacked a leader. We really don’t have one and it’s not something drastic, but sometimes it’s nice for the runners to hear from someone else besides me. That was a little bit of a drawback,” said Coach McIntosh.

However, the team overcame this obstacle with hard work and determination to get better as the season progressed, performing well in workouts that Coach McIntosh was surprised they were able to do. The work ethic was definitely there with this team.

“100 percent the best thing about this team was how hard everyone worked, getting up at 5:45 AM and doing the workouts every morning. Everyone worked their butt off,” said senior Team Captain Zeke Delgado.

The more time went by, the more the runners got comfortable competing at the Varsity level and the results showed. The team improved drastically, ultimately placing second in the tough Trinity League. Two runners made First Team All-League, and three runners made Second Team All-League.

The team had their best outing yet in their most recent race, the Trinity League finals meet.

“This last race was a confidence booster for the team. They looked good before the meet and they ran good. It helped them psychologically become ready for CIF,” said Coach McIntosh.

With the team coming off their best performance most recently, they will look to carry their momentum to a State Title.

CIF Prelims begin today for the Braves Cross-Country squad at Riverside Community College.