On September 5th, the YLHS Women’s  Varsity Cross Country team kicked off their first race of the season in the Cerritos Great Cow Run at Cerritos Regional Park.  This race consisted of 3 miles and 29 different schools, in which the women’s varsity team earned 6th place with an average time of 19 minutes and 25 seconds.

Of course, this race was only a normal race where women’s frosh-soph, junior varsity, and varsity all competed. There are other races called Sweepstakes, or an invitational, which are like normal races, but  in a much higher extent, and only varsity is allowed to compete. Their most recent race, Clovis XC Invitational, was an invitational located in Woodward Park, Fresno and took place on October 10th. At this invitational, there were 35 schools, and varsity came in 18th place.

About three weeks ago, they competed in the Woodbridge XC Classic at Orange County Great Park. There were 259 schools, and out of all of those schools, women’s varsity earned an astonishing 50th place.

The top five lady Mustangs leading women’s varsity at this race were Ashley Lee (11), Rachel Iida (12), Sarah Heckel (10), Raegan Gage (12), and Jaylin Mandley (10), who all earned an average time of 19:04. A few weeks after this race, they also competed at the Century league Preview against their league opponents: Esperanza, Canyon, and Foothill High School.  YLHS women’s varsity earned an average time of 19:20, coming in 4th place overall. Ashley Lee (18:10), Sarah Heckel (18:53), and Rachel Iida (19:16) were the first three lady Mustangs to finish the 3 mile race. As they slowly end their season, these lady Mustangs will continue to train for their big upcoming races, such as the Orange County Championships, Finals, and much more.

Without a doubt, all of this success does not happen overnight. Ashley Taylor (10) states, “We have been training everyday to improve our speed, endurance, and mental capability to get the results we want.” The YLHS Women’s Cross Country team is a very tight-knit unit, and Ashley further explains, “Our team is a family, we work as a whole, and build off of each other to make each other strong as one whole team.”