Ready, Set, Go!
Crystal Middle School, Cross Country and Track & Field Teams
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11.20.22 |
XC Team Party Celebrates Strong Season
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The Crystal cross country team closed the book on the 2022 fall season and kicked off Thanksgiving Break with a bang at their team party after school on Friday, enjoying some well-earned rest and relaxation. That is, if sprinting around the track after rapidly consuming a donut counts as "rest," and if trying to throw color powder in people's faces while simultaneously trying to dodge similar attacks counts as "relaxation."
The team's fourth annual donut relay was the closest edition in school history, with the team consisting of Noe Meza, Journey Burgess, Gustavo Carlos, and Aiden Dantes behind for most of the race until narrowly edging out their opponents in the final leg. Afterward, the team made its way to the field for an epic color run war that saw all the athletes -- and even Mr. Sturgis -- covered head to toe in every imaginable hue. Click the photo to check out the whole album! |
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11.5.22 |
Cougars Race onto Record Board at Championship Meet
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With their entire team there to support them, Crystal's championship qualifiers rocked the Green Valley cross country course on Thursday, with some standout performances in the final meet of the season. In the boys race, Xeo O'Bryan powered his way to a 10:20 finish on the 1.50-mile course, bringing him the 9th-fastest time in school history on the course. Teammate Hunter Moraida was only a few steps behind, finishing in 10:28 and earning himself the number four spot on the 7th grade school record board; the time was further notable for Moraida because it marked a season-best, despite the course being longer and hillier than that of his previous PR.
In a very strategic race on the girls' side, Journey Burgess overcame a slow start by gradually working her way past a majority of the other competitors to complete the race in 11:29, placing her in the top 3 for 7th grade on the course, and top 10 of all grades combined. Despite a debilitating tightening of her calf muscle, 8th grader Aniya Odom showed true determination to finish her final middle school race; although far off from a new PR, she made it through the finish line with the loud cheers and encouragement of all her teammates. "I was going to finish that race no matter what," Odom recalled afterward, "and even though my leg was hurting, I knew I couldn't give up." Thursday's races marked the end of the 2022 cross country season in the FSUSD, but Crystal athletes still have a few events to look forward to: a run to Sheldon Academy on Monday, the demolition of Pepreeka the piñata on Thursday, and the team party, to be held just before Thanksgiving Break. |
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11.2.22 |
Cougars Capture Inventive Images for Photo Scavenger Hunt
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What do mermaids, muggles, and meditation all have in common? As any Crystal cross country runner would tell you, they were all part of this year's photo scavenger hunt run, which took place at the Suisun City Waterfront on Wednesday. The team split into two groups, each striving to one-up the other by staging the most entertaining photos. Don't fear the walking dead, but do click the picture to see the whole album of what both groups came up with!
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10.28.22 |
Success for Cougars as Season Draws to a Close
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The season wrapped in whirlwind fashion for the Crystal cross country team over the past two weeks, as the final league meets combined with the first FSUSD Runs This race to create a busy -- but rewarding -- schedule of events that netted most of the team their fastest times ever. Journey Burgess led the way at yesterday's meet against David Weir and Suisun Valley, notching a finishing time of 10:17 that continued her three-meet streak of PR's and earned her the 2nd spot on the 7th grade all-time list. Xeo O'Bryan won the boys race, tying his previous best of 9:50, followed shortly after by Hunter Moraida in a season PR time of 10:34.
Just a few days before, Moraida and Burgess raced in Saturday's FSUSD Runs This 5k, held at Nelda Mundy Elementary. Moraida paced himself right into the top ten finishers, while Burgess overcame several challengers in the final 400m to secure 11th place out of 153 participants. Even Crystal runners who didn't compete in the 5k had great races on Thursday, though: Subhmeet Kaloty, Bryson Thompson, and Alexander Marges all chopped more than a minute off their previous best times, while Giovanni Marino, Sahib Chizer, Moraida, and Burgess achieved new PR's as well. Izzy Avila, out on Thursday due to injury, competed the previous week and earned a new PR, along with Karman Chizer. Although she missed out on a PR by only a few seconds, Aniya Odom nonetheless secured a spot on the championship roster along with teammates Burgess, O'Bryan, and Moraida. The exciting culmination of the season will be held next week at Green Valley Middle School for the first time since 2019. |
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10.15.22 |
PR's Abound for Crystal at Second Home Meet
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Who says you can't go home? Certainly not the Crystal cross country teams, who were in fine form at their second home meet of the season after a detour to B. Gale Wilson's course the previous week. In what may be a team first, every single Crystal athlete achieved a new personal record, running their fastest races so far this season and demonstrating huge improvement over their previous bests. 6th grader Bryson Thompson had the biggest time change, cutting his previous PR down by a whopping 4 minutes and 3 seconds to achieve a time of 12:18.
He was far from alone, however; several other Cougars chopped whole minutes off their times as well, including Sahib Chizer (improvement of 3:36), Alexander Marges (3:16), Aniya Odom (3:06), Noe Meza (2:34), Bryce De La Torre (2:17), Xeo O'Bryan (2:09), and Gustavo Carlos (1:20). With smaller but still substantial drops of under one minute were Subhmeet Kaloty (0:49), Karman Chizer (0:47), Journey Burgess (0:28), and Hunter Moraida (0:19). As a team, the Crystal boys were able to quickly dispatch Oakbrook Academy, but faced a very close contest against Grange's well-fortified squad. In the end, it came down to a 3-point victory for the Cougars, fueled in large part by the PR-fest, which was in turn powered by their dedicated training regimen. On the girls' side, Odom and Burgess crossed the finish line in 1st and 2nd place, with a nearly one-minute lead over the first Grange competitor. Alas, Grange's girls became the de facto winners due to being the only team to meet the minimum threshold of five participants. The Cougars will have two additional opportunities to fine-tune their home course running skills before championships, beginning with next week's competition versus Green Valley and Dan O. Root. |
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10.7.22 |
Up, Up, and Away!
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Many Crystal cross country runners got their first taste of hill running at their meet against B. Gale Wilson, Public Safety Academy, and Sheldon at yesterday's competition, held at B. Gale Wilson's neighborhood course. The 1.50-mile route, which took runners through the BGW campus and then up a steady incline, was not one that many runners expected to set new personal records on; and yet, that's exactly what rookie athletes Noe Meza and Sahib Chizer did, with both boys achieving times that were 91 and 49 seconds faster, respectively, than the times they ran just one week earlier on Crystal's flatter and slightly shorter 1.40-mile home course.
"I was a little worried about the hill," Chizer remarked afterward, "but it really wasn't that bad. I was actually able to use it to my advantage." He wasn't alone. Many of his teammates on the boys squad echoed his sentiments on the incline, which for most of them was their first race experience involving hill running. 8th grader Xeo O'Bryan, in his debut cross country race, came in just in time to break the 12-minute mark, with his 11:59 finish coming it at 10th-fastest in school history on the course. The good showings weren't enough to overcome B. Gale's powerhouse boys team, but Crystal did score a win against Sheldon as well as a second win against PSA after already facing them last week. The girls team, still without the five athletes required to constitute a scoring team, found themselves in the same boat as the other teams in attendance. Although a stalemate team-wise, the girls competition was still a success for the Crystal girls -- particularly for Journey Burgess. The 7th grade track star proved she's a force to be reckoned with on the cross country course as well, finishing in 3rd place with a time of 14:02, which earned her the 2nd-fastest spot on Crystal's 7th grade girls' all-time list. |
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9.30.22 |
2022 Competition Season Kicks Off
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Crystal Middle School had a victorious start to their cross country season on Thursday, with decisive wins on the boys side against Public Safety Academy and Suisun Valley. While no school's girls team was able to claim victory due to no school having the required minimum of five female runners, 8th grader Izzy Avila was able to pull of a personal record in her race, even with almost a year since her last one. The boys, however, were led to victory by another veteran, 7th grader Hunter Moraida, who was followed in quick and unbroken succession by rookie athletes Giovanni Marino, Subhmeet Kaloty, Gustavo Carlos, and Karman Chizer. The effort brought the boys within 10 points of a perfect score, along with the win against both opposing teams.
Although Thursday's meet marked the official start of league competition, it was actually the second race for many of Crystal's runners. Last week, the Cougars ran a practice meet at Rush Ranch for the first time; despite some rough terrain, a wrong turn by the entire middle school contingent, and a close call with a herd of stampeding cows, Crystal held strong and all its runners came through the finish line in one piece, ready for even more competition. And they'll get it; next week, the Cougars will trade in their flat terrain for something much hillier when they head to B. Gale Wilson for their only scheduled away meet. |
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5.23.22 |
Cougars Notch Solid Performances in Whirlwind Competition Season
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With a team composed of 100% rookies after three years without a track season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Crystal Cougars would have been forgiven if they needed some time to rebuild their skill sets. Luckily, Cougars are fast! With just one scrimmage under their belt, Crystal's track team approached the championship meet at Armijo last week with such ferocity that impressive performances were achieved across the board, belying the inexperience of this team of newcomers.
It started, as all track meets do, with the 4x100m relay, in which the boys team of Joshua McDaniel, Jelanei Kidd-Caragan, Aiden Dantes, and Dominick Essex ran the fourth-fastest time in school history at 57.57. Not to be outdone, the girls team of Journey Burgess, Melina Smith, Aniya Odom, and Marley Christian ran their race in 1:01.17, which earned them a trip to the podium in second place and second all-time on the school record board. In the mile, 8th grader Kyle Durano just barely missed breaking 6:00 in his first and final middle school track season, but his 6:01.30 effort cracked the top 10 all-time, while fellow milers Kyle Krueger, Jamilian Joiner, and Xeo O'Bryan all made the top 20. The girls fared similarly well, with 8th graders Mariza Supapo and Skylar Willis reaching numbers 6 and 8, respectively, on the top 10 list. The 400m saw relay teammates McDaniel and Kidd-Caragan reach ninth and tenth all-time with finishes of 1:07.63 and 1:08.47 in the boys race, while Burgess and Christian shot to third and eighth on the girls list; 6th grader Burgess also finished second overall in the event on race day. Not showing any fatigue from her previous races, Burgess went on to secure fourth place in the open 100m and the number 6 spot on Crystal's all-time list for the event with a time of 15.14; 7th-grade teammate Aniya Odom was close by, snagging fifth in the event and seventh all-time with a 15.31 performance. Also in the 100m, 8th grader Kyle Saechao unleashed the speed to earn the number 6 spot on the boys all-time list. Durano returned to the 800m in fine form, with a meet time of 2:37.12 that landed him second place and the number 8 spot all-time, while Essex rounded out the top 10 with his 2:46.90 finish. In the girls event, Willis and Supapo vaulted to numbers 6 and 7 on the all-time list, with Willis cracking 3:30 by nearly 2 seconds. Meanwhile, Odom continued her success in the 200m, reaching number 9 all-time before jumping into the final event of the day, the 4x400m relay. The relay saw fantastic athletic performances from both Crystal's boys and girls teams, with both squads finishing second in their races while -- again -- earning berths on the school record boards with respective times of 4:32.62 and 5:21.30. Championships wouldn't be complete without the field events, and the Cougars turned out for those as well. 8th grader Matteo Bohannan threw his way to seventh all-time with in the shot put at 29-9, while Christian hit fifth on the the girls record board with a throw of 27-3; with her own throw of 19-0, Smith secured a spot on the coveted list at number 10. In the long jump, every athlete that Crystal fielded earned a top spot, led by Dantes and Durano and followed by 8th grader Baily Raquedan for the boys, while Christian rounded out her day with one last record-board-status performance that saw her reach fifth all-time in a jump of 9-6. In the standing-start version of the long jump event, O'Bryan and Willis secured respective top-10 spots on the boys and girls school record boards. Despite all the setbacks of the past two years, our Crystal Cougar track team proved resilient. In addition to top spots at championships and on the school record boards, the team reestablished the camaraderie that had been sorely missed since the pause of middle school sports in March 2020. To our many athletes moving on to high school next year, we are so glad we got to spend this season with you, and we're expecting big things from you at Armijo! To all our 6th and 7th graders, we are so happy to have you to carry on our tradition of excellence next year. To everyone, we extend our heartfelt congratulations and thanks for a wonderful season! |
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11.11.21 |
New School Records Set at Championships
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The Crystal Middle School cross country team ended their season in fine form at yesterday's league championships, with every single Cougar racer achieving a new personal record on the challenging B. Gale Wilson course. Mariza Supapo, Skylar Willis, Aniya Odom, Trinity Lopez, Mel Smith, Kyle Durano, Joshua McDaniel, Dominick Essex, Hunter Moraida, and Rico Essex all advanced to the finals, representing Crystal's highest number of qualifiers to the meet in a single year.
As if the sheer number of qualifiers weren't enough, all of the racing Cougars sported new PR's, with the 8th-grade Durano setting a new school record and becoming the first Crystal runner to break ten minutes on the course, finishing his race in a time of 9:53 -- over 1 minute faster than he had run the course just a few weeks prior. Also on the 8th grade side, McDaniel catapulted to 3rd all-time on the course with a 46-second improvement and a finishing time of 10:17. Rico Essex established himself as the new record holder for 7th grade boys on the course, improving his previous time by 45 seconds, while 6th-grade Moraida maintained the top spot on the 6th grade record board -- his 10:42 finishing time representing a 22-second improvement. Similarly protecting her record board position, Supapo finished first in the girls race with a time of 12:00 -- 18 seconds faster than her previous best on the course. Although no girls grade-level school records were set, the personal records were substantial, seeing a 2:03 improvement by Willis, a 57-second improvement by Lopez, and an astonishing 4:47 improvement by Smith to cap the season. In addition to the big congratulations our championship qualifiers deserve, many thanks to all the Crystal runners who came to support our team -- you made these huge improvements possible, and we couldn't have done it without you! You exemplify teamwork in every sense of the word. Fantastic job, Cougars! |
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11.5.21 |
Avalanche of Progress
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There are no better idols of improvement than Crystal cross country athletes, and this maxim was on full display at yesterday's combined league meet and scrimmage at Crystal's Waterfront home course. Originally scheduled as a tri-meet versus Dover and Grange, the Cougars invited other schools as well, for a pre-championship scrimmage before next week's ultimate showdown. With B. Gale Wilson, David Weir, and Suisun Valley additionally represented, there was no shortage of competition for the Cougars, who stepped up in a big way and achieved several individual victories in addition to their team wins.
In the boys race, 8th grader Kyle Durano became the fifth person in school history to finish the 1.40-mile course in under 9 minutes, while fellow 8th grader Keith Tagupa improved his own personal best by a whopping 2:34. 7th graders Jelanei Kidd-Caragan and Malachi Douglas broke double-digits for the first time, finishing with times of 9:43 and 9:56, respectively. Ben Ginyard, Jamilian Joiner, Matteo Bohannon, and Derek Williams all PR'ed by a minute or more; while Rico Essex achieved a new 20-second personal best, finishing just 9 seconds behind his brother Dominick, who scored a PR in his own right with a time of 9:29. The girls race that followed was exciting from the very start, with Trinity Lopez arriving just seconds before the race was about to begin. The 7th grader had just received doctor's clearance for a previous injury, and rushed from the doctor's office straight to the starting line, paperwork in hand; her great timing led her to a great time, PR'ing in 12:17. Lopez was followed quickly by fellow 7th grader Aniya Odom, whose 12:27 finishing time represented a personal record of over a minute. 8th grader Mariza Supapo took first in the race, achieving a new season best time of 10:13 that also made her the second-fastest Cougar on the course in school history. Skylar Willis, another standout 8th grader, achieved her goal of breaking 12:00 in her final race on the course, PR'ing by over 30 seconds in 11:55. By far the biggest improvement of the day went to 7th grade racer Izzy Avila, who improved her previous 21:40 best by more than 4 minutes to finish in 17:28. This week's leaderboard shakeup puts several Cougars in advantageous positions for next week's championship meet, to be held at B. Gale Wilson. Such amazing work at your final home meet, Cougars -- we are so proud of you! We'll have more information on championship qualifiers within the next few days |
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10.22.21 |
Cougars Stage Fantastic Followups
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When it came to beating the 6th grade school record on Crystal's home course, rookie cross country standout Hunter Moraida came prepared. After narrowly missing the record the week prior, Moraida practiced the course over the weekend, planned out a strategy, and even delayed a family camping trip to make his goal a reality last Thursday at the Cougar's meet against B. Gale Wilson. "Definitely," Moraida replied, when asked if it had all been worth it. By the end of his race, he had not only broken the 6th grade school record on the course -- he had absolutely annihilated it, coming in 42 seconds below the previous best time, set by teammate Joshua McDaniel two years ago. One week later, he was at it again, setting the new 6th grade school record on B. Gale Wilson's course to boot.
He was not alone in attaining great results over the past two weeks; in addition to Moraida's new record at Crystal's home meet on October 14, several other Cougars achieved new personal bests of 30 seconds or more, with the biggest improvement going to Bailey Raquedan, who PR'ed by over 3 minutes to finish with a time of 12:33, far ahead of his 15:43 effort just seven days prior. Crystal and B. Gale traded hosting duties this week, with Crystal continuing its streak of success. Mariza Supapo took first in the girls race against B. Gale, Dan O. Root, and David Weir, while Dominick Essex was top gun on the boys squad for the first time, finishing with a time of 10:30; both runners' times put them at 2nd-all-time on the school record board for the course. And, despite being longer and hillier than the other courses raced on this season, 7th graders Derek Williams and Izzy Avila nonetheless triumphed with new personal records. With one regular-season meet left before championships, the Cougars are excitedly jockeying for the top spots in order to qualify; their final meet will take place next week versus Dover and Grange. |
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10.10.21 |
Off to the Races!
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After spending almost two years away from the sport they love due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Crystal's 8th-grade cross country veterans reveled in the opportunity to compete once again, notching several notable accomplishments in their first few meets back. Kyle Durano and Mariza Supapo took advantage of two preseason invitationals, with Durano achieving new personal records by nearly 2 minutes at the Lagoon Valley Classic and just shy of 4 minutes at the 2-mile Ed Sias Invitational. Durano and Supapo proceeded to take first place in their respective races at the Cougar's first league meet of the season at Sheldon Academy.
The following week marked Crystal's long-awaited homecoming to their Suisun Waterfront course, where Durano, along with fellow veteran runners Joshua McDaniel, Matteo Bohannan, and Skylar Willis all showed significant improvement against Green Valley, Suisun Valley, and David Weir from their last appearance on the course in 2019. Other highlights included sub-10:00 finishes from rookies Dominick Essex, Hunter Moraida, and Rico Essex, with Moraida just 2 seconds shy of attaining the 6th grade school record set by McDaniel before competitions were halted in 2020. With the season off to a such a positive start, the Cougars will be working hard to maintain their momentum as they head into their next home meet on Thursday against B. Gale Wilson. |
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6.11.21 |
Back on Track
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After fifteen long months of online and solo workouts, the runners of Crystal Middle School eagerly congregated for their first in-person group run on Wednesday, kicking off their summer vacation in the best way possible, with an eye toward another stellar cross country season in the new school year.
Although only a small series of runs are planned before the season picks up in September, the Cougars have every intention of packing as much as they can into each one. Click the photo to check out a chronicle of their summer adventures! |
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5.15.20 |
It Would Have been an Awesome Season!
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With more and more runners joining their preseason training squad throughout the months of February and March, Crystal Middle School's track and field team was poised for yet another league championship in the 2020 spring season.
Sadly, no team would get to hold that honor, as schools were closed district-wide on March 13th and would remain closed for the rest of the academic year to address the spread of the novel coronavirus. Although our amazing team never got the chance to compete this year, we still made a lot of great memories during the preseason. We couldn't catalog everything, but we're fortunate to have nearly 100 photos from our preseason workouts, which can be accessed in the track photos section of our website. We hope you're all doing well and keeping up your training as best as you can on your own; for those of you who have been able to join us at our "online practices," it's been great seeing you again! We miss you and can't wait to have us all back together in the 2020-21 school year. Of course, our dedicated 8th graders Wisdom Johnson, Lillian Luu, Brandon Meza-Angulo, Kyle Miguel, Chloe Perez, Izzy Ramos, Kairi Saechao, Andre Smith, and Joey Smith will all be moving on to high school in the fall, where we know they are going to accomplish even more amazing things. Thank you for being a part of our outstanding team, and best of luck on your next one! It would have been an awesome season, and it was - even though we didn't get our chance to race, we're so thankful we got to spend time training together, because the bonds we form with our teammates are one of the most important components of the track and field experience. We value each and every one of you, and we can't wait to see you again real soon! |
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11.10.19 |
Cougar Packs Rule at League Championships
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Crystal Middle School's cross country team wrapped up its season at Thursday's CSAC league championships with a fantastic showing of teamwork and perseverance that landed every competing athlete a coveted top-10 spot on the school record board.
First up was the girls race, with exemplary pack running from 8th graders Kairi Saechao and Lillian Luu, and 6th grader Mariza Supapo. Saechao led the way with a 10:31 finish - over 80 seconds faster than her previous race on the course from one year ago; she was followed a second later by Luu, with Supapo coming in a mere 4 seconds after that. The tight pack nabbed all three girls top spots on the school record board for the course, at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th all-time. The boys race saw 8th graders Andre Smith and Brandon Meza Angulo finish within a narrow time span as well, with Smith completing the course in 9:44 and Meza Angulo in 9:56. For Smith, the finish was over half a minute faster than his 2018 Green Valley course time, and the improvement lifted him from 8th up to 4th all-time. Meza Angulo, who last raced on the course in 2017, went from an unranked 14:04 to PR by over 4 minutes to tie for 6th all-time on the challenging course. Helping the competing Cougars through those challenges every step of the way were their teammates, who positioned themselves strategically along the course to offer encouragement at pivotal times. We're so thankful to have such a dedicated team of student-athletes; thanks for a wonderful season, Cougars! |
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11.10.19 |
Color Run Fun at XC Team Party
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After a long and prosperous season, the Crystal cross country team took some well-deserved time to relax at their annual team party on Friday. After indulging in a feast of pizza, cake, cookies, and drinks, the Cougars made their way down to the track for the second annual donut relay mile; the winning team of Matteo Bohannan, Andre Smith, Brandon Meza Angulo, and Joshua McDaniel finished with a gentlemanly time of just under 20 minutes and just under 1 incident of throwing up. Afterward, the team engaged in a friendly color run battle that turned athletes' faces, clothes, hair and shoes almost every color imaginable. Click the photo to check out the whole album!
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11.7.19 |
Milestones Reached at End-of-Season Scrimmage
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Despite the unexpected two-week postponement of their league championships, the Crystal cross country team's competitive spirit was nonetheless on full display at yesterday's end-of-season scrimmage on the Suisun Waterfront. Racing against their friends from David Weir, the Cougars achieved huge time improvements on the 1.40-mile course, with many PR'ing by 30 seconds or more.
Determined to break the 6th grade girls school record after missing it by just 2 seconds in October, Mariza Supapo brought her goal to life with a 9:49 finish that was also a 24-second PR. Melanie Rodriguez brought her home course time down by 33 seconds to finish with a PR of 12:03, while Izzy Ramos did likewise, also PR'ing by 33-seconds to complete her race in 12:20. Nyema Myers skipped over the 13-minute range completely with a nearly-2-minute PR that saw her finish in 12:59 from a 14:51 previous best, while Skylar Willis finished 10 seconds later with an over-1:45 improvement; Chloe Perez realized a 46-second PR with a time of 13:16. Rhema Johnson and Arelle Cortez came through the finish line at the same time of 13:28, with Johnson netting a 27-second PR and Cortez attaining one of 1:25; Nathalie Herrera PR'ed by almost a minute with a time of 13:52. In the boys race, Andre Smith led the way with a 1-second PR to finish in 9:03, while 6th grader Joshua McDaniel's 9:55 performance was an 11-second PR that also netted him the 6th grade boys' home course record. Matteo Bohannan's 13:28 effort was a 33-second PR and an extremely impressive 3:30 improvement from his first race of the season. Throughout both races, Crystal athletes demonstrated the best in supporting their teammates; by investing themselves in each other's success, they made possible the terrific gains witnessed at yesterday's races. We're extremely proud of our Cougars! |
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10.28.19 |
Photo Run Fun for Cougars on Final Day of Practice
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Taking a break today from the serious side of training for championships, the Cougar cross country team had some fun running and taking goofy pictures around the Suisun Waterfront for their annual photo scavenger hunt run. Guided by bizarre prompts involving ninjas, aliens, and zombies -- among other crazy things -- the runners formed teams and raced to capture the most creative pics. Click the photo to check them all out!
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