Abby CC enters with more experience
The Abbotsford Falcons girls cross country team is prepped and ready for their second season under head coach Dillon Novak. The girls team re-formed in 2022 after a three-year hiatus following the dissolving of the co-op Colby-Abby squad and saw great improvements as the fall progressed. With a large portion of that inaugural squad returning in 2023, the Falcons will be looking to take those lessons learned in year one and build upon them in year two.
Novak said that he can already see the difference between where the team is at this year in comparison to last year, a testament to both experience and the work that the team has put in already.
“We are starting a little ahead compared to where we were last year,” he noted. “Last year, they were all completely new to cross country and they hadn’t done a ton of running over the summer. Coming into this year, most of the team has experience in cross country or running distance in track, so we are better conditioned to it, all these concepts aren’t brand new to them and they can kind of transition into the season a little easier.”
“The team is much more willing to do more things and jump right into running this year,” Novak added. “They aren’t as hesitant and you can already tell that some of them are running with a lot more confidence. And I think that confidence will carry them a long way as we head into the season.”
Many of the early hurdles of 2022 can be more easily bypassed this season, from conditioning to finding the right pace during race day. And while these obstalces can certainly be tackled with more efficiency, this is still only the second year running cross country for most of the team, while they will be competing against teams with double or triple the experience and there will still be some growing pains in that regard.
“[They] still are very new to distance running,” Novak said. “The most experienced only have two track seasons and one cross country season under their belts, which is still not a ton in the grand scheme of things. Running 3.1 miles at your fastest pace possible is something that takes sometimes two or three years before you feel comfortable and are able to do it at every single meet.”
Senior Iris Cruz and junior Azul Diaz are situated to lead the Falcons this season. The pair saw vast improvement from the beginning of last season to its eventual conclusion, finishing 36th and 37th respectively at the conference meet in Athens.
“[They] will probably be the frontrunners this season,” Novak said of Cruz and Diaz. “Azul put on a decent amount of miles over the summer and she’s already looking pretty good in practice, so I would expect her to be pretty close to her PR at the beginning of the season. Iris and Ana [Flores] will probably be up there for sure. It will take a little bit of time, but I see them having a pretty good season and shaving off some time to put up PRs as well.”
While the Falcons will be short their third and fourth place runners from last year’s conference meet, they will have senior Ana Flores and juniors Angie Chavez and Azalea Atkinson back as well. Chavez and Atkinson concluded the 2022 season on a high note, coming away from the conference meet with personal best times and finishing 55th and 56th. Flores finished right behind her teammates in 57th place.
The Abbotsford squad had their first chance to test their mettle this past Thursday. After their original meet in Pittsville was canceled, the team instead competed in the Timm’s Hill Invitational hosted by Rib Lake/Prentice. The Falcons took fifth place at the meet with 113 points. Diaz finished as the Falcons top runner, taking 13th place with a time of 24:29. Cruz placed 37th with a time of 30:12, Flores placed 44th with a time of 31:34 and Chavez took 46th after finishing in 32:56. Incoming freshman Monse Ochoa rounded out the top-five with a time of 33:34, earning herself 48th place.
The club’s next meet is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31 at Nine Mile Park hosted by Marathon.
