By Ava Rogers
Christian High School’s 2023-2024 Cross Country Team had an outstanding season! It is arguably one of their best seasons yet. This year, they participated in the 75th annual Mt. Sac Invitational, and the varsity girls placed third against 724 schools and 14,000 runners. The varsity girls also swept League Finals, taking six of the top ten finishes. They also placed second overall in CIF San Diego and even placed sixteenth in the State Championships.
When asked what the biggest highlight of the season was, Junior Faith Patterson said, “The biggest highlight from this season was definitely growing deeper relationships with people that will last forever. Cross Country is a very hard sport but that is what makes you closer as friends!” Likewise, Senior Danielle Stark said, “The biggest highlight of this season was the amount of fun we had cheering each other on at each meet.” In addition, Faith reflected on how successful the team’s season was, stating, “This season has been very successful! The girls won league and are going into CIF with a good chance of going to state. But none of this would be humanly possible without God (by) our side. We run for the glory of God every single day and God has been able to use our team to be a testament of his faithfulness! God is so God!”
When asked what participating in Cross Country has taught her, Danielle responded, “Cross Country has taught me the importance of mental strength for sure.” Faith also responded with, “I have definitely grown my mental strength. It is a very mental sport because your mind can say you can’t, but your body can. As what my coach says, ‘If it does not challenge you, it will not change you!’ So, the harder it is the better you will get!!”
“We could not do it without each other,” she concluded. “The Cross Country team is the most encouraging and hard-working. Cross Country may not seem like a ‘team’ sport, but it is actually the most ‘team’ sport you will ever get!”
