The Barons XC Team overall got 5th place in Team score overall,behind the 1st place Nationally-ranked Arcadia team.  It was a tight contest with everyone coming in with a very tense head, tied flats, and straight-forward attitude and yet the Boys JV team still managed to pull off a 3rd place win beating off Santiago and Mira Costa. With another week comes another meet with OC Champs G00d Luck Barons!

Last Wednesday, the Baron’s cross country team took to the asphalt, the dirt, and the grass to kick the ground along with the competition as they went into Sunset League Prelims at Central Park. The team, even with a surplus of new recruits in all categories from freshman all the way the jv level, still pulled out with the high points in frosh/soph/jv/varsity.

Alan Loi ('14) Horatio Takito ('15)

Ron Yostif (’15), a first year cross “countrier”, said, “Even though not a lot of people PRed in this race we did gain a lot of experience just in time for the Sunset League Finals.”

This preliminary showed that long distance traveled from track, who won Sunset League last season, to cross country and the Barons had the potential to take home gold once again.

Overall, for newcomers and veterans alike, this prelim showed the competition and gave insight on how we are currently into the season. It gave the team a foresight that no meet or invitational could.

On Wednesday, September 30th, the Baron’s Cross Country  team ran in their first Sunset league meet at Central Park, Huntington Beach. Though it was only prelims, this meet was important to show off how the teams will be racing the rest of the season and what to expect at finals.

The Central Park course is a slow one, with a startline on grass and a huge dirt hill. Many runners found it difficult to perform well on this course. Sophomore, Marissa Nickels said, “Central Park is a downtempo course, and I’m not pleased with my time. I was 37 seconds from getting twenty bucks!”

“The Varsity raced just like I expected. We were one point from third place and one point from placing fifth as well, on the boys side. We have our sights set on League Finals with high hopes,” says boy’s head coach Dyson.

The Boy’s varsity placed fourth out of six sunset league teams, while the Girl’s varsity placed fifth. Only two years ago, the Barons were sweeping first place rankings on every level.  ”We Barons will peak late,” says girl’s head coach, Bivens. Coach Bivens relates that FV distance runners will drop their mileage heavily toward Sunset League Finals, so that times improve drastically, and suprise their opponents.

Some outstanding runners were juniors Luis Morales, and Catherine Martinez, along with sophomores Jordan Millington and Marissa Nickels.

Both the Boys and Girl’s teams raced with pride, passion, and heart, even if it wasn’t shown in the standings.

By Camille Linares-Reed, Sports editor

The Boys and Girls Cross Country teams leave for Las Vegas this week, in hopes of flaunting their talent in the well-known Las Vegas Invitational.

These runners have been working hard all summer and expect to do well in their first race of the season this Saturday. The runners have found that an average of 13 miles a day with tempo runs, hills, and speed repeats are a sure recipe to the road of success.

In order to be taken as one of the few select to run in Vegas, a male runner must at least hit 16 minutes, and a girl must hit 19:30 (for 3 miles). This qualification is highly difficult to attain.

With the top 7 runners of each gender on their way to Nevada, the Junior Varsity and Frosh/Soph levels are left to run in the Laguna Hills Invitational.

Carmille Garcia says, ” I am excited for this year’s trip! It would be a great first race to kick off the cross country season.”

FVHS  has left its mark on the Las Vegas Invitational for countless consecutive years. This season should be no different

Cross country summer training, which lasts from June 1 to September 1 gives Baron distance runners three months to prepare for a highly anticipated cross-country season. Baron runners wake up every morning at eight for an early practice.

The runners start off with 5 miles a day and end with about 13 miles a day as summer progresses. These miles include hills, speed repeats, and overly encouraging coaches. It is a requirement to run a minimum of 250 miles during the summer training, averaging about 3 miles per day. Most runners, however, reach the 500 mark by the end of summer.

Junior Mady Ward describes the summer training as, “ Difficult because the mileage and workouts are challenging, yet fun because of all the games and bonding experiences within the chaos of the training.”

The team recently took a trip to Mammoth to train at a 9,000 ft. elevation. Joined by the Cerritos College team, the Lady Barons ran numerous trails, mountains, and lake loops.

With talented and determined runners on the team, this season is shaping up to be another competitive year. Look for seniors Rachel Sunico, Erika Recupero, Christian Olive, and Brian Rock to lead the whole Cross Country program to an explosive start. Juniors Carmille Garcia, Catherine Martinez, Luis Morales, as well as sophomores Jay Bonthiusand Marissa Nickles are a few more anticipated stars of the season.

photo credit: Cory Kobel

By Carmille Garcia, Staff writer

Every race, every moment in that race among your own enemies is priceless and to not hold back all those moments can be the race of your life. The race of your life is surreal, amazing and unimaginably slow. As a runner, they remember every instant that their heart beats uncontrollably to the loud crowd alongside with the hundreds of feet trying to move that one and only place: first.

First in front of runners breathing down your neck and waiting to stampede ahead to get in their rightfully position. It was a foggy, cold morning at Mt. Sac for the CIF finals in cross country. This was going to be my day, my race, and I could feel the tension rising in the air.

 Nervous did not hit me until the redcoat lifted that gun in the air. Then the race of my life had started. Chasing the pack of girls was a reminder of all the crazy mile repeats that our team did over the summer. Not to mention the twenty mile days alongside it too. The first mile went way to quick for I was running after the fastest girls in the state.

A random coach shouted in the distance…5:15….5:17….5:20! As I pass by hearing that last number, I was thinking our crazy coach is right about hitting the first mile in 5:20 then surviving the rest considering the millions of miles we did, the Fountain Valley team could almost handle everything. Then it hit me…the hill. Yes the hill, the first of three uphill battles to challenge.

 Trying to stay with group of runners is hard enough when that was personal best in the mile for the three mile race. Almost up and over the hill and it\’s down to the very bottom again in just a flash. Making our way towards poopout, (name for the next hill on the course) and this name for it does not make it the worst hill in the world for it is actually the shortest.

Runner\’s around me were breathing heavily as so was I and there was still a long way to finish. Up over the next hill, done and finished. The crowds were a bit more subtle here behind the mountain as some runners start to slow down. This is always a chance for opportunity to move ahead in front of many girls as you can.

One girl, two girls the two miles has been passed and there is no coach to shout out the times to tell you to go faster! In a race there is no slowing down, and there are no easy days. Run every race like it is your last race that you will ever run in your life. Turning around the bend makes you look up to see the last and final test of the hill were the fans below will almost never walk up the horrendous mountain to cheer you on through the last moments of agony.

This was the concluding of the eight hundred meters left in the race and to leave everything that was already been put out, to go all out. The crowd kept getting bigger and bigger more down the mountain till the crowd had gotten enormous all around the gauntlet, the final stretch where anyone can challenge anyone.

Chanting, screaming and in my mind all it said was to finish, to finish. That was all I heard through the final moment and sprinted up the last hill through the finish chute holding my hands out. Nothing can be changed.

By Carmille Garcia, Staff Writer

The gun goes off and the crowd is screaming so loud you can\’t hear the sound of your own heartbeat. It\’s cross country season, and the Barons are ready for another thrilling season.

The girls are off to a great start by winning the Buena Park dual meet, dominating at Las Vegas and getting 6th at Woodbridge last weekend.   

Lauren Erickson, a senior and captain on the varsity team says, “I am excited that we are doing so well in the season right now, and that the team is willing to step up.”

The girl\’s team expects to go to state and looks forward to Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon this November.

The boys are also doing extremely well, winning the Buena Park dual meet and placing 3rd at Las Vegas.  Woodbridge was a success; the team got 17th in tough competition with sophomore Luis Morales leading the team in the sweepstakes race.  

Both Coach Barratti and the boys anticipate winning the Sunset League title and running at CIF finals.

Hard work and the countless miles over the summer have prepared these Barons to battle the three mile races, be it rain or shine.

by Carmille Garica and Jacqueline Tieu, staff writers

Through Mammoth, Palm Springs, and the countless summer miles they ran, both the girls and boys cross country teams readied themselves for another exciting and successful season. We caught up with Coach Martin Baratti to ask a few questions.

Baron Banner: What can we expect from this year\’s cross country team?

Coach Baratti: Success, definitely success.  The girls are going to qualify for state and have a shot at winning the CIF title again.  The boys will have a chance at winning Sunset League and going to state.  I believe this success will have a lot to due with the hard summer training we\’ve done.

BB: Who do you think will do well this season, any possible record breakers?

CB: Michelle Urata will work towards the all time summer mileage record, maybe going over 3800 to 4000 career miles.  During the season, we will definitely have some stars to watch.  For the girls, there will be Lauren Erickson, Carmille Garcia, Erika Recupero and Rachel Sunico.  The guys will have Luis Morales, Kaz Nishikawa, Christian Olive, and Austin Isrealsky.  A lot of our guys will be under 16 minutes and our top seven girls are going to be sub 18:30 for three miles. This is extremely fast.

BB: How many miles have the girls/guys team done this summer?

CB: Combined, 2,500 easy for both the girls and guys.  I\’d say about 1,500 miles for the girls and 1,800 for the boys.

BB: Since most of the last year\’s fastest athletes were seniors, how will this impact the team this year?

CB: It\’s unfortunate but it is not going to slow us down. Period.  Losing the seniors did impact the leadership on the team, but talent-wise we are still not missing a beat.  We are reloading.  We are going to keep upholding our tradition of excellence.

BB: What do you personally think is the main attribute to success in running?

CB: Dedication, leadership by the seniors and the top runners, and a positive attitude keep us going forward and having fun.

BB: Who will be FV\’s biggest competitors this year?

CB: Esperanza and Edison are always the biggest competitors.  However, Marina is getting better and Saugus is at the top of the mountain as well.  We\’re still pretty much the team that everybody wants to beat though.

BB: Thank you for your time and good luck with this season.

CB: No problem.