CROSS COUNTRY: Teams Crush Wilson (10/17/2012)

Reprinted from the Clarion (October 20, 2012) by Noah Gerlach

    As the Warriors’ cross country’s season comes to a close, the team shows no signs of slowing down. They proved this with a dominating win at Gabriel Park on Oct. 17.
No more was this evident than in the results of the junior varsity boys race. The first 10 finishers in that race wore light green and yellow, and Cleveland got a perfect score of 15. Joel Hwee was first among them. He has high goals for the district meet and next season.
     “I want to PR [personal record] at districts, hopefully under 18:30 for a 5K,” he said. A time like that would almost guarantee him a spot on varsity, given the fact that the three fastest runners on the team are graduating. However, there is still one race left, one chance for anyone to have a breakout performance. Given the way this season has gone, that is very possible. We have seen great seasons from many junior varsity boys.
     Another race dominated by the Warriors was the varsity boys race, also won with a score of 15. Closer contested was the varsity girls race, also won by Cleveland. Wilson won the junior varsity girls race handily, but that did not distract from the fact that Cleveland was overall the better team of the two.
This has been a great season for the team, and they can only go up from here.
     “I definitely want to go under 18 minutes on a 5K, and maybe even under 17 minutes, but that’s, that’s shooting for the moon,” said Hwee.
     The entire Warriors’ team should be shooting for the moon, both in the coming races and for the coming season. The next meet is the PIL District meet at Lents Park on Oct. 24.