On September 18, the Seattle Prep Boys and Girls Cross Country team participated in the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Irvine, California. This was only the second year that Seattle Prep had attended the meet and the team was very excited to compete in California. Both the boys and the girls cross country team had been practicing regularly during the summer and five to six days a week during the school year to get ready for the big meet.
After departing from Seattle on a 7:35 A.M. flight the cross country team soon arrived in sunny California. There were over 240 schools and more than 11,000 athletes in attendance. When the sun went down and the heat subsided the runners laced up there shoes to start their pre-race warmups. They ran under the glow of the lights on a three mile course that wove around the Orange Country Great Park. The course was fairly flat with a variety of terrain including grass, asphalt, and turf. The Prep athletes competed in the freshmen, sophomore, JV, and varsity races. The sophomore cross country boys placed 1st in their race out of 34 teams and Prep had 19 runners place in the top 100 of their races.
After a successful night the team headed to In-and-Out Burger for a post-race celebration, then drove to the Embassy Suites for a well-earned nights rest.
On Saturday, the teams headed to Newport Beach for a fun day under the sun. “Getting to bond with everyone at the beach,” was Grace Wellman’s favorite part of the trip. There they laid in the warm sand, swam in the water, and walked around the boardwalk.
Sunday morning the team left to go back to Seattle. They were sad to leave sunny California but satisfied with their performance at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic and hopeful that Seattle Prep would be able to attend once again next year.