Santisteban excels at CV Invitational

The CVHS girls cross country varsity team participated in a race last Saturday, Oct. 9, at the Castro Valley Invitational with teams from all over California including Del Campo, Bishop O’Dowd, James Logan, and Westmoor. Kelsey Santisteban won first place in her varsity race with a time of 18:44 for three miles. Castro Valley did not compete as a team as there were only four girls running varsity; in order to make a team you have to have at least five runners. Trojan runners were Santisteban, Gabby White, Amanda Zen and Aurora Bailey. The Castro Valley Invitational is held at Canyon Middle School because the school has the infamous Canyon Mile. All of the runners ran a three-mile course around the grass field, through the Canyon Mile backwards, around the perimeter, and back into the Canyon Mile forwards. Many runners think this second Canyon Mile to be the most difficult part of the course, including White. “It’s hard because we have to run the Canyon twice,” commented White. A lot of runners can be seen walking up the steepest part of the Canyon Mile but others like Santisteban ignore the pain. “I was tired when I entered the Canyon but I pushed on,” said Santisteban after her race. Still runners are not invincible. “It felt like crap when I was running,” Bailey complained. Overall the girls varsity ran well even though they could not compete as a team. Many runners were absent for this race because the SAT was scheduled on the same day. CVHS is sure to be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming HAAL races, when all runners are present.