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Emily Evans, CROWN Yearbook

AND START: Junior Tait Vigeland off to a strong start at the Eagle Invitational on Sept. 14. "Before a race, I always try to remind myself why I run." Vigeland said, "I focus on the fact that I love running and competing because it's really fun. It helps calm my nerves and not worry so much."

The cross country team is headed to Phoenix, Arizona, for the 61st Annual Thunderbird HS/Dave Doerrer Invitational tomorrow. The team has been practicing long hours and have been working hard to prepare for this race.

The cross country team has not been to the race in Arizona in previous years. The Thunderbird Invitational is the oldest and longest running invitational in the state, according to Athletic Net. The course is a 2.8 miles of grass with a few hills and is located at Mountain View Park in Phoenix, Arizona.

“We’ve been doing a lot of long distance workouts like tempo runs, four legs, a lot of things that would help us in the endpoint of our race,” senior Josue Basillo said.

This is their first out of state meet of the season.

“It’s Arizona, where we’ve never ran before, so we don’t know anyone [we’re competing against],” Basillo said. “… so it’s going to be different, kind of, like preparing [for a] state meet in a way…”

The whole team will be attending the race, rather than just the varsity team.

“Everyone is going, even injured people,” Basillio said. “I think it’s pretty cool because in recent years we haven’t had a whole team trip.”