Cross country teams prepare for 2022
By Hector Trujillo
The Scripps Ranch High School cross country teams kicked off the first official day of practice on Aug. 8, hoping to have another great showing, as was the case during the 2021 season.
Despite no longer having the service of some key runners, the teams will still have several long-distance athletes as part of the approximately 30 boys and 25 girls competing in 2022.
“The off-season makes their season,” said SRHS cross country coach Chuck Warren. “What we do during the summer is have them join a running club for those who are serious, and they meet at Miramar Lake three days a week. Before COVID, we used to have over a hundred kids on the team.”
Warren, who has been at the helm since 2012, saw both the boys and girls make it to the State Championships last season which was the fourth year in a row for the boys and three out of the last four for the girls.
“I give them recommended workouts throughout the summer, with the dedicated ones going six days a week,” Warren said.
Among the returners for the boys are senior Ken Belt who finished 11th in CIF, winning the D2 junior race at the Dana Hills Invitational and also recorded a 4-minute, 21-second mile last year.
He will be accompanied by fellow senior Brian Maguire and junior Oliver Cannon who finished in the CIF top 20 in 2021.
As for the girls, seniors Michaela Martin and Chloe Ellermeyer will be among those returning, with sophomore Addy Richardson, who ran a 5-minute, 10-second mile during the 2021 CIF finals, also coming back.
“We definitely want to peak our runners in the month of November for the big meets like league finals, CIF and possibly the State meet,” Warren said. “We’re in the most competitive league by far and overall, we’re probably third in the whole county.”
The month of September will serve as preparation for league competition. September will include the annual South Bay Invitational in Bonita to kick things off, followed by the Mt. Carmel Invitational at Morley Field, and concluding with the Dana Hills Invitational in Dana Point the last week of September.
The Scripps Ranch cross country teams then start their league competition in October with the biggest rival once again being Cathedral Catholic High School, which has been the case since SRHS joined the Western League in 2016.
