Clinton Junior High boys are cross country state champs

By Charlie Rook

After a long season, the Clinton Junior High boys cross country team finished off their impressive campaign with a state championship. In a race that was always going to be tight between Clinton and Madison, the Arrows triumphed with a team score of 57, to Madison’s 76.

The way scoring works in cross country is determined by the top five runners on a team. Unlike most other sports, lowest score wins. The team with the first place runner gets one point for first place, second place runner’s team gets two points, third place runner’s team gets three points, and so on. The team with the lowest combined score of their top five runners wins the meet.

The Arrows found a lot of success this season, getting the win in every meet except one. Madison Middle School defeated the Arrows in a midseason meet, putting a blemish on the undefeated record. However, according to Head Coach Eric Solis, it was that meet that woke the team up.

“I was kind of upset; but, at the same time, it was a blessing in disguise, because up to that time, we had been undefeated, so it woke us up,” said Solis. “It let all of us know that we could be beaten. After the initial shock wore off, we knew exactly how we needed to race against Madison to beat them.”

The talent this team had wasn’t built overnight; it was through long practices in the summer that had the team ready to go when the time came.

Coach Solis put his focus into four specific types of runs that had the team ready to go for championship season.

“Based on their two-mile time trial in April, we had four specific types of days with specific paces,” said Solis. “For the first three to four weeks we only did aerobic pace running, recovery days of 25 to 30 minutes, long run days (45-55 minutes), and hill workouts once a week. We would also have the kids do different types of exercises to build their upper/torso/lower body. These were done especially on rainy days or recovery days.”

One of the most overlooked parts of cross country is the element of pack running. The closer the team’s scoring members are together, the less points the team gives up.

While on the surface cross country looks like an individual sport, the teams also receive a score. A common strategy many teams use is to work towards running close together, or “pack running,” thus decreasing the amount of time between their first finisher and their fifth finisher, also known as the “1-5 split.” This strategy helps to decrease the number of runners who can finish in between a single team’s scoring runners, thereby helping to keep the team’s score low.

This concept became a large emphasis for the Arrows as they approached the state meet.

“That is how Madison beat us at our meet, and we knew exactly what needed to be done,” said Solis. “We had two goals: we needed to have at least three of our top-five set PRs (personal records), and we needed to lower our 1-5 split. We did both. Out of the ten guys that ran, six of them set new PRs, and we lowered our average season 1-5 split from 46 seconds to 39.”

Even having started the season with very talented runners, the team saw a large amount of growth through the year, with a large portion of the team setting lifetime bests, and a lowering of the squad average from 11:59 at the beginning of the year to 11:06 at the state meet.

“Many of them went from going through the motions of running in a meet to actually racing,” said Solis. “We told them that the number one person they had to beat was themselves.”

Solis spoke of the overwhelming pride he has for his athletes, and how they had grown through the season.

“We are incredibly proud of these young men and the hard work and dedication they have put into the sport,” said Solis. “They respect us as coaches and trust us to help them achieve their goals. Ultimately, as I said before, they developed that drive and grit on their own, and it’s something they should all be proud of.”