The Running Hounds made the journey to Hayward High School on Saturday amid bouts of sun and squalls on the drive down. Upon arrival, the downpour intensified and we set up our pop-up amongst mud puddles, the runners already wet from the walk into the event at Hayward High School.
We were slated to run late this year, the Division 5 girls at 11:30am and boys the last race of the day. The weather was so bad that the thick mud literally sucked the shoes off of runners’ feet.
The skies did clear though and the girls had a solid race, and they all finished with smiles. Real Type 2 fun (not fun in the moment, but fun to look back on later)!
As the girls finished, the clouds rolled in once again and turned into another downpour during the Division 3 Boys race, two races ahead of ours, making the conditions that much worse.
The boys were ready for the conditions; we had talked all week about how it may be to their advantage, with the boys even doing a training run in the mud out by Parkland Farms.
Sunny skies prevailed for the start of the race. Being the last race of the day, the damage was done on the course. It was a mess!
Mess or not, the boys were ready. They went out fast and the whole team had great performances, Jake McWilliams and Lucas Welty especially.
Jake’s dream came true as he qualified for the State Championship next Saturday in Fresno. Lucas, a freshman, was only two places away from also making it. The boys finished seventh overall in the North Coast Division 5, the top public school in the rankings.
“I wanted to go to state this year to prove to myself that I am capable of so much more than I already am,” said McWilliams before the big weekend coming up.
“I doubted at the end last year that I would never make it,” he said. “Throughout this season, I put in countless hours and pushed my body to its limits, and it paid off.”
The CIF State Cross Country Championship is Saturday, Nov. 30, at Woodward Park in Fresno.
- Mike Efram has been the high school’s cross country coach for 7 years.
