Davis runners reach success at Clovis Cross Country Invitational
By Zoe Juanitas, HUB Staff Writer-
The night of October 11 was filled with makeshift ice baths, motivational YouTube videos and pre-race rituals for the DHS cross-country team as they prepared for the annual Asics Clovis Cross Country Invitational held in Fresno.
Clovis is known as one of the largest and fastest meets in California, with over 4,000 runners attending. This year DHS entered 36 competitors of its own, a step outside of its normal top 14 guys and girls standard.
“This is the biggest team we have ever taken to Clovis. It’s also the first year we have ever taken a Frosh/Soph girls team,” assistant coach Tim Groth said.
The team followed its usual Clovis routine, consisting of a running tour of the course where veterans could pass on their strategies to the newcomers, a group pasta feed and an inspirational video watching followed by a logistics meeting.
Despite pre-meet jitters, illness and injuries, the devils held their own with both individual and group top finishes.
“One of the biggest highlights of the day was Jeanne-Marie’s JV win, she was around 10th at the mile, 2nd at the two mile and 1st at the finish, just a great race to watch,” Groth said.
“My goal was to finish in the top 5 for the JV race and I expected to improve my time from last year. My best memory was when there was a mile to go in the race and I realized that I could win,” McPherson said about her performance.
Another great race was ran by sophomore Fiona O’Keeffe, who grabbed a second place finish with a 5k time of 17:17, a slim 17 seconds behind nationally ranked Simi Valley runner Sarah Baxter.
The frosh-soph girls claimed first place as a team, and the varsity and jv guys ran strong races through the use of pack running.
With hopes of continuing the team’s success in years to come, Groth explained his feelings around the invitational: “Clovis is special because of the tradition behind the meet and something great always happens when we race there.”
The Davis varsity teams will return to the course in November for the state championship meet.