Cross Country Performs Despite Key Injuries

The Poly Panthers traveled to Long Beach’s El Dorado Park for its opening cluster meet of the season. The team’s training to date is best epitomized in Jacob Riis’ epic poem, The Stonebreaker:

 

        Look at the stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a            crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last            blow that did it, but all that had gone before.

 

“Everyday we go to work with our hard-hat mentality and metaphorically pound away at those physical, mental, and emotional barriers that seek to impede our progress. Races provide a particular challenge, and today we rose to the occasion,” said Coach Caragher.

 

Despite some key injuries and illnesses, the Panthers adopted the “next person up” mentality and hammered away. The Varsity girls, led by Mariana G. ’26, Catie S. ’25, and Stella K. ’25, who raced to fourth, fifth, and sixth, paced the team to second in the Prep League meet. The Varsity boys team finished fourth and is eagerly counting the days until the league championships. The Junior Varsity boys team finished second in their race. Individually, 11 Poly harriers established new career bests, despite the course being much longer than Rosemead Invitational. 

The Panthers close out the regular season with the Prep League Finals on October 28 at 8:15 a.m. at Pierce College. “1-2-3, Pound the Rock!”