Menlo School cross country runners staying in shape for season

“Our girls won the ‘white division’ race — by a lot (in 2019),” said Menlo School cross country coach Jorge Chen.

This season, the Knights were looking forward to be invited to the “rated race” — which is the second-highest performance level, one that teams are voted into by a race committee.

Obviously, the actual in-person, cross country race was canceled. But race organizers, instead, turned it into a “virtual race” which was dubbed “Trampled the Virus Virtual Race.” Runners who were previously entered had until Oct. 3 to post their times over a 3-mile course. There were rules and regulations regarding the runs — no treadmills, for instance.

A number of runners from Menlo School decided to form a team — unaffiliated with the school — to compete in the Woodbridge Invitational. If and when the high school cross country season does begin, as scheduled, in December, the Knights could be poised to be one of the best programs in the Central Coast Section this season.

“Our club is Menlo XC-Una,” said Chen, adding the “una” means “unattached” a common term used in the running world. Chen served as administrator and time keeper for the club.

“Just a bunch of Menlo high school runners running 3-mile time trials.”

The boys’ team combined time was good for a first-place finish in their division, and sixth overall, while the girls’ finished second in their division. The boys went 1-2-5 with Calvin Katz, a senior, leading the way at 14:40.9, whose time was the fastest in the division and third-fastest, overall. Kamran Murray, another senior, came in second with a time 14:47.7, while sophomore Justin Pretre’s time of 15:28.0 was good for fifth.

The girls’ Menlo club team was paced by a first-place finish from senior Alexandra McCusker, who posted a time of 18:40.0. Freshman Taylor Tam’s time of 18:59.0 was good for fourth in the division.

“Since the (high school) season was postponed to January, I still decided to look up a few virtual races in order for us to continue to train and stay motivated,” Chen said. “The kids stayed motivated, despite smoky days … they did what they had to do — either on a treadmill or stationary bike — or find a window where the [air quality index] was below 100 — to get their workouts in.

“If they would have been at Woodbridge (in the actual race), they would have run faster.”

A number of the runners on the teams gathered at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale for their official time trial on Saturday, Sept. 26. Chen pulled out his “surveyor” or “click” wheel — a measuring device used for long distances — and actually walked off a mile-long loop which the runners ran around three times.

All the while, the runners adhered to COVID-19 protocol of social distancing and mask wearing as they warmed up for their runs.

Katz and Murray, however, set their times on track, of which Chen is not a big fan. Three miles equals 12 laps on the track.

“It’s just really boring (running laps on the track),” Chen said with a laugh. “It’s just not fun. You feel like a goldfish going around in a bowl. Twelve laps was pretty challenging.”

While Chen was simply looking to give these runners an opportunity at some kind of competition, he was genuinely happy to see them take it seriously and put in the time and effort to be competitive.

“The kids just got it done. It’s just one goal they had in mind to shoot for,” Chen said. “They got it done and I’m super proud of them and (they were) putting out some decent times, too.”

It also gives him a way to determine how competitive the Knights will be once the high school season officially begins.

“If we can get these five boys to stay healthy and train well together, it could be the fastest Menlo (boys’ team) ever. That’s saying a lot considering last year was the fastest team and we came in third in CCS and made state for the first time in two decades,” Chen said. “For the girls, we, obviously, lost a lot of seniors (especially Charlotte Tomkinson and Kyra Pretre). But at the same time, these girls have also surprised me quite a bit. If we keep a couple of runners who are committed to club soccer and swimming — we might be quite strong.”