Four MacArthur students come in first at the SAUSD Intermediate Cross Country Meet

Jose Lozno, Kaitlyn Castillo, Diego Lucatero, and Jordy Quiroz each ran the fastest times for their divisions at the Cross Country Meet on September 27.

Jose Lozano, Kaitlyn Castillo, Diego Lucatero, and Jordy Quiroz came in first place at the Cross Country meet on September 27 at McFadden Intermediate School, next to Thornton Park.  The Cross Country team was coached by P.E. teachers Mr. Patrick Evans and Mrs. Heather De La Jara.  The team had to compete in the race against 13 other intermediate schools.

Eighth graders ran two miles. Jose Lozano came in first place, running the two miles in 10 minutes and 43 seconds.

For the seventh graders, the runners ran one and a half mile.  Kaitlyn Castillo finished in 9 minutes and 20 seconds and Diego Lucatero finished at 8 minutes and 17 seconds.

Lastly, for the sixth graders, they ran one mile.  Jordy Quiroz came in first place with the time of 5 minutes and 42 seconds. Along with these four people, 18 other Macarthur students received medals at the meet as well.

“I was happy and excited for winning first place. I didn’t think I was going to win though,” said Jose.

Diego said, “I was happy for winning first place in the race.”

The team enjoyed success because they put in a lot of hours into practice.  The team had been practicing for five-and-a-half weeks, Monday through Friday, except Wednesdays. They practiced right after school from 2:30 through 4:00. They practiced on running 2 to for 4 miles every day.  

The teams also practice running by doing outruns.  On the outruns, the team had to run outside the campus. They ran to Thornton Park, Yogurtland near South Coast Plaza, and Enclave Belfield. This year the team got way better because they did more outruns this year than last year.

Evans has been coaching cross country for 20 years. He decided to coach cross country because he likes to see smart people and the best kids. His expectations for the runners are to get better at running and to have a good time.  “Running is mental, mentally tough”, said Evans.