Cross-country looks to rebuild with strong new runners

September 9, 2016 — by Andrew Owens and Kyle Wang

Cross country looks to rebuild

Coaches: Scott Bang (boys) and Danny Moon (girls)

2015-2016 recap: The boys placed 12th at California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Meet in Division III and fourth overall in the De Anza League and won their division in CCS, led by CCS Champion alumnus Matthew Peterson. The girls did not qualify for the state meet.

Key additions:  junior Anirudh Rao, freshman Kole Tippetts, Jinghao Wang and Sahaj Rastogi (boys); freshman Julia Hoffman (girls)

Key opponents: Lynbrook, Los Gatos

Star athletes: senior Nick Sum, junior Amit Nag, sophomores Nirav Adunuthula, David Berkowitz-Sklar (boys); junior Miranda Song, sophomore Sasha Pickard (girls)

Key losses (graduated athletes): Roinin Staunovo Polacco (moved schools), Stephen Law, Matt Peterson and Kevin Duong-Le (boys); Kimberly Chen and Ashley Chen (girls)

League: De Anza League

Prognosis: “I’ve noticed a difference in dedication to the sport this year. I truly believe [the boys’ team] are all in for defending our CCS crown,” boys’ head coach Scott Bang said.

Having lost four of its five fastest runners, the boys’ team is looking to rebuild, win CCS and improve on last year’s performance at the state Meet.

With 50 total members, including many key underclassmen additions, Bang hopes the team can place in the top 10 this year at the state meet.

“We have more depth this year, ” Bang said. “We have a good 12 to 14 runners pushing for our seven varsity spots, so we have a lot of healthy competition in practice.”

The girls’ team, which was plagued by injuries last season, hopes to make CCS, buoyed by a strong group of underclassmen.

“As a team, there are a lot of new girls that show a lot of potential, and I'm excited to see how they perform in the upcoming meets,” junior captain Miranda Song said.

2 views this week