Last Friday, September 6, cross country participated the Desert Solstice meet.  Our cross country team had 18 new members that made their debut for the first time at this exciting event.  The race’s top 25 finish had six of ACP’s students in it including Devon Baggot (second place junior division), Eryca Fawkes (sixth place frosh division), Ethan Fawkes (tenth place junior division), Isabel Brady (tenth place frosh division), Lauren Harsen (sixteenth place frosh division), and Oliver Williams (twenty-fifth place frosh division).

To feel your legs pumping and your lungs pushing and pulling in air like the great bellows of a forge to fuel your body’s forward movement, stopped by no one with only an empty road in front of you.  The feel of exhaustion not hiding around the next curve in this long winding road, but in the next pause just between movements.  Stopping is unacceptable and impossible at this point.  This is cross country.

The cross country meets are big events where the runners run a long distance.  These events are all about endurance and control.  This kind of event is not about a burst of speed and a win but about the long term effort and not giving up when they get tired.  Being on the cross country team is an amazing opportunity, and one of our fabulous cross country runners, Zoe Turnbow, who ran in this meet, agreed to be interviewed about the event.

Q: Where was the Desert Solstice meet and when did it start?

A: The meet was in Marana on the Crooked Tree Golf Course.

Q: How many miles was the race?

A: The high schooler’s race is a 5k (3.1 miles), and junior high ran 1.5 miles.

Q: How students participated in the race?

A: In total there were around 600 or more students, I think only 25 people ran for ACP.

Q: How would you describe the meet to someone who has never been to one of these events?

A:  Meets are really fun to go to; it’s a very supportive and exciting environment!  Our meets generally last a few hours, and it’s nice to be able to watch us run from different areas through the race instead of sitting in the same place for a long time.

There are a lot of sports having games and meets for the fall sports season; this is just the beginning of the season for cross country, so let go out and support our Knights.  Remember to congratulate our Knights for a good job done on their meet!