By: Kloe Adams

Humor Editor

The 2023-2024 cross country season started with a BANG! On Sep. 7 at The Firebird Invite at Fremont High School, Varsity Boys A made an amazing first impression coming in first overall in the 2.05 mile race, with junior Ben Klarich leading the team with his second place finish in 10:25. 

Girls Varsity A also made an astounding first impression, taking first place overall. Los Gatos students took the top 6 places, with junior Shea Elmore, stealing first place with a time of 13:14. Varsity boys and girls B took first overall as well,  alongside junior Flynn Merriman taking first for the boys and freshman Aziza Acosta taking first for the girls. For frosh-soph Los Gatos came second overall to Milpitas with sophomore Henry Fan leading the team in seventh place with a time of 12:09. 

At the most recent meet on Sep. 13, Varsity Boys A took first place in the 2.1 mile race with junior Aydon Stefanopoulos taking first place overall with a time of 10:13. Varsity girls A took second with senior Claire Liu taking second with a time of 13:22. With two astounding outcomes for Los Gatos already, Varsity Boys B continued this trend coming in second overall to Lynbrook with Merriman coming in first with a time of 12:01. Later on in the day Varsity Girls B carried on with the great results taking first place overall with freshman Aleida Nunn coming in second place with a time of 14:37. Freshman boys took an impressive third overall to Lynbrook in second and Milpitas in first. Freshman Torrin Wentzien leads the boys with a time of 11:44. Sophomore boys took first overall with Ewan Bidmead taking third with a time of 12:02. 

When asking sophomore Nelson Kramer about how he feels before his meet on Sept. 13, he commented, “We’re all going to get out there and we’re going to complete the race and that is my goal for today.” After he finished his run in 15:10, Kramer reflected, “I got a bad time and I’m not happy about that. I didn’t have enough energy and I need to work on fueling during the day. I’m probably going to start packing more nutritious lunches instead of going to 7/11 everyday.” Another sophomore, Andy Qiu said “I don’t feel that well before the race. I’m sore from our last meet, so this is not going to be one of my best races, but hopefully I can still get below 13:30.” Finishing with a time of 13:31, Qiu commented after the race, “It was better than expected, but I think I’m still off my best pace. Time to spend the next week to recover and prepare for the first SCVAL meet.” The Los Gatos High School cross country teams are off to a great start, with only more to come!