As his feet hit the rocky path with each stride he took, senior captain Nicholas Sum tried to ignore the blazing heat that had tortured him throughout the course and focused on his finish. As he crossed the finish line, Sum placed eighth in the senior division with a time of 12:44.
On Sept. 6, the boys ran their first meet of the season, a 2.1 mile flat course at Lynbrook High School. Other star Falcons at the meet included junior Amit Nag, who ran a time of 11:15; sophomore David Berkowitz, who ran a time of 12:03; and senior Kushagro Bhattacharjee, who ran a time of 12:27.
With Scott Bang starting his second year as coach for the Falcons, the runners gotten used to Bang’s style of workouts.
Typical runs during the week include sprint sessions, hill repeats and distance runs. This strenuous training is what helped the boys come out on top as champions last year at CCS.
2015 alumnus Matthew Peterson won CCS in Division III and the team came in first place. This season, Sum wants to cap his high school running career with a personal record.
“I really hope that we can win CCS again and return to states this year as a team,” Sum said. “Even with the loss of two of our top runners, [Peterson and 2015 alumni Steven Law to graduation], I still believe we can work hard toward those goals.”
Though the team has lost key athletes to graduation, they have gained some returning and new star talent; among the key additions this year is junior Anirudh Rao, who transferred from Mission San Jose High School.
“Any new member is helpful to the team; new varsity members mean new faces and personalities, which makes running more interesting and fun,” Sum said.
Though the team has only had two meets so far, one at Lynbrook and the other at Central Park on Sept. 27, Sum hopes that they will learn to cooperate and develop as a team together as the season progresses.
“We have done similar things as last year in terms of training, but another year means more people,” Sum said. “It’s definitely been fun to meet new members, and I look forward to spending more time with them.”
Note: Due to printing deadlines, the Falcon was unable to cover the Central Park meet on Sept. 27.