This morning, the Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) cross country team faced the Westminster High School (WHS) Lions in a dual meet that ended with dominant Baron victories in all divisions. The meet, FVHS’s first in-person athletic competition in 11 months, gave athletes, parents and organizers their first glimpse into how to hold sports during a pandemic.
Since HBUHSD and Sunset League first suspended athletic competitions and extracurricular activities in March 2020, FVHS sports teams have practiced under various restrictions and have had competitions either postponed or cancelled in order to mitigate risk of COVID-19 transmission.
While cross country is classified as one of the lowest-risk sports thanks to its outdoor setting and lack of shared equipment, and Baron runners have been able to practice more normally than their counterparts in other sports, for months the FVHS cross country team remained unable under state, county or district restrictions to hold or participate in competitions with other schools.
When this morning, then, FVHS and WHS athletes showed up to the first in a series of dual meets FVHS cross country was in recent weeks given the go-ahead to hold against other HBUHSD schools, the atmosphere was one of nervous anticipation and excitement. For athletes, it was the end to a nearly yearlong hiatus from competition. For coaches and FVHS administrators, it was the first test of the preparations they’d taken to hold a pandemic-safe meet.
One of those preparations was the course. Rather than request a permit from the city of Huntington Beach to use the traditional Sunset League course of Huntington Central Park West, meet organizers decided to hold the meet on FVHS campus. Distances were paced out on foot and bicycle and a three-mile course was carefully mapped and measured, coaches being sure that every leg of the course gave athletes enough space to avoid being crammed together.
Another precaution, enabled by the decision to hold the meet on FVHS campus, was restricted attendance. Normal entrances and parking lots were closed, save for a small section by the track, and only athletes, coaches and administrators were allowed on campus. As athletes began showing up at 7:00 a.m., an hour before the first race, some parents parked in lots at the neighboring church or at Valley Vista High School, peering through fences for a view of the course.
The final precautions were two emblematic COVID-19 protocols: social distancing and masks. Unlike their traditional pre-meet setup, where athletes and their bags alike would squeeze together under a small canopy, athletes stayed six feet apart when not running, and maintained their distance from adults at all times. While resting, changing, stretching and warming up, athletes wore masks, as did coaches and administrators.
As a result, by the time the varsity girls stepped up to the starting line at 8:10 a.m., their meet experience had been markedly different from previous years. The sound of the starting gun, however, marked the return of something familiar: the taste of old times for whose sake they had followed all protocols and taken all precautions. A race.
The girls started explosively, blazing a lap around the track before exiting onto the asphalt, passing the tennis courts, turning left after the bungalows and heading toward the softball fields. After a lap around the back field, and then around the baseball fields, they headed back toward the 500s before completing two laps around campus and ending once more on the track.
The flat course, extensive lengths of hard asphalt and concrete, and the cool, overcast weather constituted ideal racing conditions for the girls. Their masks, tied to their forearms while they raced so that they could be easily accessed and reapplied after the race, flapped as the Baron girls flew through the finish line one after another, led by junior Kaho Cichon (17:47) and senior Lauren Berg (18:07). All nine of the Baron girls set a personal record (PR), and they earned the team a perfect score by placing first through ninth uninterrupted.
“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this race; I especially didn’t plan on getting a PR,” Cichon said. “Although I am happy about getting a PR and finally breaking 18 minutes in the three-mile race, I know I have a lot more room for improvement. [After this meet,] I feel much more excited and confident about the upcoming competitions.”
After the girls’ spectacular performance, the varsity boys stepped up to the line (waiting, unlike in normal meets, for the last of the varsity girls to finish before beginning their race to ensure that only one set of runners was on the course at any given time). While not all of the boys set PRs, they did duplicate the girls’ feat of placing their entire team before their competitors, this time taking the first through twelfth spots and leaving 13th through 17th to the Lions.
Just as Cichon’s winning time of 17:47 was an outstanding season debut, the boys were led to victory by an equally extraordinary performance from senior Dezi Hernandez, who stopped the clock at 15:29, more than thirty seconds ahead of the second-place finisher (sophomore Benjamin Prado, whose 16:06 was no less impressive).
“I thought this course would be a lot harder because of all the turns, but luckily they weren’t too bad,” Dezi Hernandez said. “The grass was where I felt it; they didn’t mow it—but it was alright. All in all, [it was a] pretty good course, [I] definitely would run it again. And it felt amazing, you know, to have actual competition and someone to push you.”
After the varsity boys, the combined frosh-soph and junior varsity girls race took off. While Westminster did not put any athletes in the race, the Baron girls managed to maintain the streak established by their varsity counterparts and all 11 set PRs. The girls were led by Sam Ertel and Mariana Hernandez, who finished with respective times of 21:18 and 21:26.
“I was kind of bummed today for the frosh-soph and JV girls because they didn’t have anybody but themselves to race against,” Girls’ Coach Stacy Ferris said. “So I think it’ll definitely push them even harder to have competition in their [coming] races… so I’m super excited for the next four weeks [of races] we have, and then League Finals. I’m really excited to see where they are then.”
To close the day, the frosh-soph and junior varsity boys took to the line, finishing with a close contest for the top two spots that was won by sophomore Andrew Hernandez (18:20) and sophomore Dylan Newcomb (18:25).
“I was really worried because during our time trials I would get like 20 minutes, so I was kind of worried about how I’d do here,” Andrew Hernandez said. “But I just powered through it, and I feel good.”
By the end of the meet, coaches and administrators were similarly satisfied that the meet had been a success. For the coaches, it had borne out hopes in their athletes’ ability to race in a modified environment and after months of training under the taxing uncertainty of a continuously postponed competition season.
“I was super excited that they finally got a race because we didn’t know that they were even going to race a couple of weeks ago,” Ferris said. “I expected them to do well, but I wasn’t sure how any of the freshmen would do, because they’ve never had an official race. But they all PRed by a minute or two minutes, every single one of them, so that was fantastic and I’m definitely over the moon about the whole thing.”
Boys’ Coach Steven Knowles was similarly happy with his athletes’ performance.
“I had hoped we would perform up to a decent level and the team did that,” Knowles said. “It’s been so hard, working through COVID-19 and being able to train on and off. I’m proud of how much the athletes have matured.”
Meanwhile, FVHS Athletic Director Roger Holmes said the meet was a logistical success.”
“All of the expectations and hopes we had—[they] pulled it off,” Holmes said. “I think we’ve kind of made the model right here. This was as good as you could do it. Everyone was distanced, everyone was wearing masks and going off at the right times and all that.”
That smoothness of execution, Holmes added, boded well for future competitions.
“We’re hoping to hear in the next couple weeks more about the next level for sports—you know, soccer, football, maybe—and so we’ll definitely use this as kind of a template,” Holmes said. “It was so great to see [everyone] out here and competing, and it’s been a long time coming, so we’re really happy today.”
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