Coach: Archie Ljepava

Last season's record: 0-6

Last season's recap: Last season, though not many people qualified for CCS, it was a good season.

“It’s usually pretty hard to get to CCS [for track],” Ringsrud said. “There are a lot of good schools in our division like Palo Alto.”

Star player: sophomore Steven Sum, distance

Key additions: Travis Stokes and Grant Faylor, sprinters

Key matchups/games/meets:Wilcox

This year’s cross country squad will prove to be a pivotal part of the track team, as they set their standards high for the distance events this season.

“Our distance team is pretty powerful this year,” senior mile runner David Zarrin said. “A lot of the varsity cross country runners are going to be important.”

Sophomore Steven Sum will again play a significant role in the team, running the mile and the two-mile events primarily.

“Steven is a key runner,” Zarrin said. “He runs basically anything.”

Also returning to the squad are cross country runners sophomore Andrew Harter, juniors Drew Bryan, Will Guy and Sam Guy, and seniors Aasim Naqvi and Sujay Khandekar.

The cross country team took 4th at CCS this past season, and took third to make state finals the season before that. They form a distance team rife with confidence and experience.

“I’d say the distance team here is constituted of mainly young guys led by a few older, experienced runners,” Zarrin said. “We are a powerhouse at distance running, and years of enduring the sport together has made the varsity squad into somewhat of a family.”

While the distance team hopes to excel, the track team does have to endure some losses in graduated seniors. Alumni  Mitchell Casas, Troy Doles, Brandon Olivieri O’Connor, Rocky Lee, and Myron Zhang will not be present to help the team to success this year.

The team will, however, be gaining quite a few football stars.

“We’re getting some throwers like [juniors] Wilson Kung and Andy Chen,” junior Eric Ringsrud said.

Ringsrud, who competes in the long jump, high jump, the 200m and the 400m, will be joined by football teammates juniors Grant Faylor and Travis Stokes.

“They’re pretty fast,” Ringsrud said. “We would maybe run the [4x100m relay] with [junior John Moyles].”

Last season, though not many people qualified for CCS, it was a good season.

“It’s usually pretty hard to get to CCS [for track],” Ringsrud said. “There are a lot of good schools in our division like Palo Alto.”

The first track meet of the season is on March 7. Practices began on Jan. 28.

Zarrin believes the toughest meet will come against the Wilcox Chargers.

“We aren’t the best team right now,” Zarrin said. “But I think we can be top of the league in a few seasons’ time. We’re progressing.”