Cross Country Preview

September 5, 2017 — by Mathew Luo and Elaine Sun

Preview for upcoming season of boys' and girls' cross country. 

Boys

Head Coach: Ian Tippets

Recap of 2016/17: Junior Amit Nag qualified for the state meet and placed 107th;the team placed 8th at CCS and 6th in SCVAL finals but did not qualify for states

Key opponents: Los Gatos, Palo Alto

League: De Anza Division

Star Athletes: sophomore Kole Tippets and Sahaj Rastogi, juniors David Berkowitz-Sklar and Nirav Adunuthula, seniors Amit Nag and Anirudh Rao

Key Losses: Nick Sum, Jinghao Wang

Key Additions: None

Prognosis:

 

Practices this year have become stricter and tougher under new coach Ian Tippets, who believes that commitment and mileage are the two policies for success.

These practices now include stringent attendance policies, longer runs, supplementary core exercises and additional weekend practices.

“The team needs pushing,” said sophomore Kole Tippets, the coach’s son. “We have a lot of talent, but other teams just run more miles and are more committed to cross country than we are.”

The team is 20 runners smaller this year; many runners either dropped or did not show up.

“Last year, some runners cut runs and hung out in Starbucks until it was time to head back,” Kole said. “Many of them dropped this year.” The result: Those who remain are committed to the team.

Coach Tippets believes these tougher practices will greatly improve chances for a better result for the team this season.

 

Girls

Head coach: Danny Moon

Last season recap: Sophomore Julia Hoffman made states, and the team placed 10th in CCS.

Key additions: Junior Elizabeth Kardach

Key matchups: Lynbrook and Monta Vista

Key athletes: Sophomore Julia Hoffman, juniors Isabella Tan and Siena Parsons

Key losses: Sydnie Vo

League: De Anza Division

Prognosis:

The team hopes to follow in the sophomore Julia Hoffman’s footsteps and advance to states this year. Coach Moon hopes to do more speed work and work on faster leg turnovers as well as run more with the team this year.

“It’s going to take some work,” Moon said. “One of the main goals is to make sure that there’s always a team effort involved at meets and at all the workouts.”

The team plans to continue with workouts that target specific areas of running, such as hill repeats and longer runs.

Many of the runners have set additional personal goals. Junior Isabella Tan plans to get her mile time under 6 minutes and PR in the meet courses, as well as improve on running hills.

“I’m really optimistic about this season,” Tan said.

 
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