Cross Country is not a popular sport in most high schools, according to a study done by CIF in 2018. It was ranked seven out of ten girls’ high school sports for participation.

While at practice, coach and English teacher, Mr. Marquez warned the Girls´ Cross Team about a possibility of an obsolete team.“I guess girls are a little bit too afraid of running. There are pretty fast girls at MACES, who should be representing the school.” Mr. Marquez said. He has hope that more girls step up to represent the school by running on the team.

“I feel disappointed because cross country is a very underrated sport, people think it´s not a sport.¨ Samantha Grimaldo a three-year cross country runner said. This has truth as students all over California were surveyed by CIF, in which they considered cross country, not a very popular sport as it ranked seven out of 10. 

¨I feel like it´s a positive challenge. Girls don’t know what they are missing and they don´t give it a chance. If you don´t give it a chance you never know!¨ Roseangela Segura a two-year cross country runner and editor for the Wolfpack Times, elaborated on her inspiration and benefits for running on the team. She wants to empower other girls to endure in the positive challenges that are a part of running.

“I was inspired to join cross country because my mother was a long-distance runner at my age.” Angela Diaz, a junior, three-year cross country runner said she wanted to know what it felt like to run at a competitive level. As her freshmen year started, she figured out whatever made her mother want to start running at a competitive level would make her love it too.

A feeling of disappointment can be sensed by female runners at practices. As of today, there are only six girls on the team, but they need four more to compete in races. However, what would be a girl´s reason for not joining the team? “There´s this idea that males are generally faster than females, which fosters a sense of doubt and fear before giving it a try,” Diaz said.