By Sam Clark ’19
The Bellarmine Cross Country team, consistently one of the top teams in the state, has already secured key successes to start the year and looks to carry their momentum to a strong season. Win or lose, you will find the Cross Country team with smiles on their faces, a positive outlook, and a humble attitude.
Though the team’s attitude remains the same, this years team looks a lot different than last year’s. Ted Fuell ‘19, a senior and team leader on Varsity, spoke about this turnover.
“We lost four of our seven varsity runners from last year, including Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau and Alex Scales, who are arguably two of the greatest Bellarmine distance runners ever. Without them, our team is going to have to work together as a pack in practice and in races for us to be successful,” he said.
Despite the loss of such pivotal teammates, Ted is confident in the team’s ability to adapt and adjust.
“We have a lot of amazing and passionate leaders on this team that will be crucial to our success and I think we will surprise a lot of people because of this. The success of our team for years has come from the selflessness of our leaders. This year, at our leadership retreat in Tahoe, twelve of us made it our mission to make the team a priority over our individual goals,” he stated.
Though each race is important for the team, some of the biggest are Stanford, Mt. Sac, WCAL Finals, CCS Finals, and State Championship. These all represent huge opportunities for the team to race against some of the best teams on the west coast and to continue bringing championships to Bellarmine.
The team has already begun game planning for these huge races that come later in the season. As Ted explained, “It is a long season and we made it our goal to win CCS this year. We have changed our training around this year in order to be at our best at CCS and State. We are all very determined to have our best race at Crystal Springs and fight for that CCS title.”
Winning isn’t the only goal of the team. Despite possessing star athletes like Colin Peattie, who ran a 4:16 in the mile his last year, making him the fastest freshman in the nation, or seniors like Peter Deck, Luke Hammers, and Ross D’Orfani, the team has other goals in mind.
“We push each other in practice to be not only the best runners we can be, but the best competitors, leaders, and also people,” said Ted.
The Bells look to ride their humility and hard work ethic to another successful season and potentially bring home the CCS title. Attend their home meets and support all the athletes! Go Bells!