Cross country team running into season with high spirits

PHOTO: Junior Ryan Mitchel finishes second in the mens varsity race.

By Corinne Holman-Evans,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff-

Davis High’s cross country team attended its first large, multi-school meet since the pandemic cut its 2020 season short. The meet was held on Sept. 4 at Lagoon Valley Park in Vacaville, where DHS was one of 87 registered schools. 

Cross country is one of DHS’s largest sports teams. Nearly 100 students competed in one of the races hosted at the meet. 

The course itself is dry, hilly and largely without shade. “It’s definitely one of the hardest courses,” said DHS junior Ryan Mitchel, who placed 2nd in the mens varsity race. “But it is good to start with it. All the other races feel a bit easier.”

The temperature in Vacaville ranged from about 60 degrees at the 8 a.m. start of the meet to nearly 90 at the end, a little past noon. 

Air quality, fortunately, was not a problem for the athletes at the Vacaville meet. It has been a significant hurdle as the team prepared for the season.

“Because of the fires, we had to cancel multiple practices our first couple of weeks,” coach Tim Groth said. “But luckily it’s been clear today, clear enough to have a meet.”

Practices are typically canceled when the air quality index reaches 150, but the air quality remained below 70 throughout the competition. 

This season has been a long time coming. Over the past year, the cross country team was not able to compete as usual due to the pandemic. 

“[Last year] all of our meets were just loops around schools. The Davis one was just a six loop course we did throughout the high school. We didn’t get anything like this–no big courses or big hills,” Groth said. “Technically last year was a season but it wasn’t… regular cross country like we are used to so it was nice to have this.” 

The pandemic, of course, is not over. With over a 1,000 people attending the meet, there remained concerns about COVID-19 safety.

“I can tell you that Davis has taken the most precautions, which is nice.” Groth said, “We want to make sure everyone is safe and we are doing everything right. But I believe that we and Davis are doing the best we can.”

Regardless of some abnormal aspects of the event, the team was excited to return to a more typical competition. “Cross country is back and we’re hoping for a great season,” Groth said.