The Analy and El Molino cross country teams will hit the trails this week in the opening meets of the North Bay League season.
El Molino will visit Foothill Park in Windsor to take on the Jaguars and Cardinal Newman on Oct. 8 (after press time), while Analy plays host to Elsie Allen and Rancho Cotate at Ragle Ranch Regional Park on Wednesday, Oct. 9. Both meets start at 3:45 p.m.
The teams got in a final tune-up last week in a pair of practice meets, with the Lions getting a preview of the hilly, 3.1-mile Foothill Park course.
“I was glad we did this as a practice race before racing the same course for real this week,” El Mo coach Mark Fassett said. “Two of our top boys didn’t run last week, but if we have our full top seven guys on Oct. 8, we can at least compete with Windsor. If we run well as a team, we match up well against Cardinal Newman.”
The Tigers played host to Rancho Cotate and Windsor at the annual Ragle Relays on Oct. 3, an event that serves as good speed-work while building team camaraderie. The unusual format consisted of four-person relay teams, with each athlete running a 1.1 mile loop on Thistle Trail. The event also included coed races, with boys and girls alternating.
“This is the first time in the last decade that we’ve won our own relay event,” Tigers coach Mark Grismer reported. “I’d like to keep that success rolling into the NBL season.”
