Saturday, August 31st, the Taft High Cross Country team ran their first race of the season. Five students all with varying levels of experience headed off to Lake Ming. Taft High was one of the smaller teams as most of the members were unable to compete due to conflicting schedules. 

Once arrived, the team immediately began to warm up and before they knew the first race began. Kimberly Rivera was the first runner of the day as she began her two-mile run around the lake. Rivera described her race as the following: “It was a little tough in the beginning. However, it was really good overall. I feel everyone has a fair share at winning.” 

With the girls’ race finished, the fellow boys took their mark and were off. Senior, Antonio Guzman, had this to say when asked about his thoughts on the upcoming season, “I think we are going to do really well. We’re still expecting more people to come and help our team grow.”

Guzman and Rivera were the standouts for this invitational. With Guzman’s time of 11:31.12, he placed 6th among 79 JV boys from all across Kern County. Rivera, with a time of 16:26.69, placed 15th among 31 JV girls. The races concluded and the team packed up and headed back to Taft. Stay tuned for the cross country team’s growth.