Foothill cross country athletes raced at Camino Real Park today in their first-ever Tri-County Athletic Association (TCAA) league meet, hosted by St. Bonaventure High School.

The varsity boys’ took fourth place overall out of nine teams. The junior varsity boys placed third overall. The girls’ varsity team took sixth place out of ten teams, while junior varsity placed fourth out of six.

Freshman Maize Anders was proud of her team’s performance, and found the three mile Camino Real course to be a welcome change from previous courses.

“I think the course was fun,” said Anders. “We’ve been coming from harder courses.”

Sophomore Jared Rodriguez was the first Foothill boys’ runner to cross the finish line, clocking in tenth place out of 67 runners, with a time of 16:49.04.

Anders was the first Foothill runner to finish in the girls’ varsity race. She took fifth place out of 64 runners, with a final time of 19:58.10. This was Anders’ fastest time, and she attributed her excellent run to the “good energy” at the race.

Coach Ken Reeves wrote in an email to the Dragon Press that he was impressed by “the entire meet and the team effort” put in by Foothill’s runners. Though impressed, Reeves still hopes that his runners will improve their times for the next meet.

Anders also noted the cohesiveness and friendly atmosphere of the cross country team.

“Everybody works really hard together,” said Anders. “Cross country is a really good environment. It’s a great place for you to be, even if you’re not a runner at the beginning.”