Susan Wong is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Phoenix Country Day School for AZPreps365.com

Even with temperatures in the mid 90s, hundreds of teenagers, their families and coaches still gathered at Rose Mofford Park on Thursday afternoon for a cross country meet. The energy in the park was palpable, everyone was excited, cheering on their teams. If it weren’t for their masks, you couldn’t even tell that this was during a pandemic. Sophomore Ella Brenes runs across the bridge that goes across the Arizona Canal. (Susan Wong/AZPreps365)

Phoenix Country Day School’s cross country team was one of the Arizona schools competing at the AIA Sectionals at Rose Mofford Park. For the majority of the team, which is composed of underclassmen, this was their first time at the Division IV sectionals meet.

But for senior Claire Linos, this was her fourth and last time competing at this course. As a seasoned runner who knows the details of the course in north-central Phoenix, she told the team before the race, “When you’re really tired, especially on the canal when it’s in direct sunlight, just know that it’s gonna be okay because it’s really short and really flat, so just pick it up towards the end.”

“Just remember that the faster you run the faster you finish,” Linos added. 

As the athletes stood around waiting for the race to start, coach Camilo Tafur repeatedly shouted, “Distance, distance, distance” at the group of freshman boys standing too close to each other. 

The course itself is composed of two big loops around the sports complex. Ella Brenes, a sophomore who also ran this course last year, said before the meet, “On the first loop, I recommend everyone to take note of the places towards the end where you think you want to sprint because you’re literally going to be running that same loop the second time.”

Coach Camilo Tafur teaching his Bio 2 class via Zoom on his laptop and walking around the course timing the athletes. (Susan Wong/AZPreps365)

Because the meet was in the middle of the day, and class was still in session, Tafur actually walked around the course with his laptop on a Zoom meeting with his Bio 2 class.

“They have a test for the next class and I felt bad that I wasn’t going to be there, so I figured I would zoom in and answer questions as they were reviewing, and it worked out pretty well,” he said.

The boys ran first, beginning at 1:00 p.m., and PCDS had a total of seven runners in the race. They finished eighth out of 14 teams and senior Ben Kreisberger was PCDS’s first finisher. He came in 25th overall with a time of 19:43.5, which qualified him for the Nov. 13 state meet as the third individual finisher. Not only was this a new personal record for Kreisberger, but making it to the state meet was unexpected for him since this is his first time competing in the sport.Senior Ben Kreisberger running down the canal, leading a pack of runners. (Susan Wong/AZPreps365)

“Definitely wasn’t expecting this season,” he said. “It's my first season doing cross country, so I'm super excited and hopefully I can get a new PR at state.”

The girls race started at 1:30 p.m, and for freshman Kimi Cahoon, who was competing in this meet for the first time, she hoped to finish in the top two and she did just that. Cahoon took second overall with a time of 19:59.1. 

Cahoon, like many of her teammates, complained of the heat. 

As the girls were racing, a runner who wasn’t part of the event passed out on the course and organizers had to reroute the end of the course around a tree. Medical staff were seen pouring water on him. 

PCDS sophomore Ella Brenes and senior Claire Linos run in a pack at the start of the course. (Susan Wong/AZPreps365)

The pack of runners behind McBee and Cahoon finished about a minute and a half later. Included in this pack was Linos, who came in sixth overall with a time of 22:04.0. Less than 20 seconds behind her was Brenes, who finished in 11th with a time of 22:22.4. The rest of the PCDS girls, sophomore Sophia Nistor, freshman Taylor Black, and freshman Emilia Safir, finished with times of 27:13.8 (45th), 27:55.0 (52nd) and 33:04.2 (71st) overall, respectively. 

After the meet, Linos reflected on her running career and said that her favorite memories are of being around her teammates.

“Running is great and I love running, but my team is the one that really helped me, especially this year,” she said. “When I met all these freshmen, they were so nice, so adorable and so young, but some were mature and so entertaining.”

Tafur said after the meet that PCDS was only taking the top five girls -- Cahoon, Linos, Brenes, Nistor, and Black -- to the Div. IV AIA State Cross Country Championships Nov. 13 at Cross Roads Park in Gilbert. The girls race begins at 12:40 p.m. and the boys will begin at 1:15.