Senior cross country runner reflects on high school running career

In an SCVAL preview meet, senior Wasil Khan sprang in front of other schools' athletes.

Senior Wasil Khan speaks about his experience in running, and encourages others to join and relish their time on the team.

With the conclusion of last year’s cross country season and starting of this year’s track, senior cross country and track team co-captain Wasil Khan decided to call it quits on his competitive running career after this season, with no current plans to continue during college. Despite being the fastest long-distance runner on the team in both cross country and track, Khan is happy to move on to a new phase next fall.

“It’s time-consuming in high school and I figured I might not be able to manage that in college,” Khan said. “I will probably do weight lifting and run here and there, but I won’t be training as hard as I am right now.”

Following practices, Khan also hit the weight room to improve his strength and reaction speed for his legs.

Khan’s first official training was in 8th grade. Speaking about his first running experience, he said it was as if his “heart is about to jump out.” But he didn’t give up. When he joined the cross country team in 2019, Khan quickly improved and grew to be one of the fastest runners, clocking in at 4:40 in the mile. His fastest times include 800 meters in 2:09, 1600 Meters in 4:43.45, and 3200 meters in 10:16. However, as he advanced his speed, he felt that it got exponentially harder to see improvements.

As co-captain of the cross country and track team, he strives to set high standards for training. He is the first to arrive and the last to leave. He helps coaches take care of any emergencies such as injuries and or missing athletes.

For athletes new to track, he emphasized the importance of training smart to maximize improvement.

“If you want to be a good runner, run slow and run a lot of miles rather than running quick over little distances,” he said.

His main advice is to cherish their time playing sports, as Khan himself drew significant motivation from socializing with friends who encouraged him to keep running through the many challenges of the past four years.

“I definitely enjoy running,” Khan said. “It’s pretty fun and it’s a different experience. Running is a hard sport, but it’s worth it when you improve.”