Boys’ cross country: Falcons compete in CCS Finals, look forward to next year

As junior Kyle Fukui crosses the finish line of the 2.95 mile Crystal Springs course Nov. 14, he looked to the scoreboard for his time. Fukui saw he had taken 26th place overall, clocking in at 16:50. The end of the race was the end of a long but rewarding season for Fukui and his teammates as the squad competed in the CCS finals.

“I was pleased with the result because I ran a faster time than I ever have before,” said Fukui. “Overall, the team had a great race.”

The team was anchored by strong performances from Fukui and junior Garrick Chan. Chan was the second Falcon to finish, taking 42nd with a time of 17:25. Freshman David Zarrin was the third member to cross the line at 18:41. Also running were freshman Aasim Naqvi, sophomores Eren Veziroglu and Lawrence Liang, and junior Stephen Louie.

The team tied for 10th place overall in the final CCS standings. Although they lost the tie-breaker to Mills High School, the squad was still pleased with the result.

“As a team, we accomplished what coach [Dan] Hodgins wanted us to get,” said Chan.

Even though Zarrin is a freshman, he was a strong contributor to the varsity squad.

“We did well this year,” said Zarrin. “In a few years as the team get older, we will be a lot better.”

With only two upperclassmen on varsity this year, the team is much younger than its competition. In the years to come, all of the talented underclassmen hope to develop into a state level team.

“The freshmen on the team point to a very successful program in the future,” said Hodgins. “We are a very young team and if we can keep our younger runners progressing we will make a lot of waves the XC world over the next couple of years.”