Every week that I am at Thacher, a special event, specific to that week, occurs. Some of these events may remain in my mind as lasting memories, such as Gymkhana, the musical, or an especially interesting conversation. This week, that special event is particularly important to me.

It is 6 am, on a mid-November Saturday, the sun has yet to cast its rays upon the great Ojai Valley, and I am excited as I sit here, in a Thacher Suburban with my six teammates and Coach McGowan. We are the varsity cross country team, and almost all of us have been training for this day (and others) since June first. We have run hundreds of miles, and we are prepared for this week’s special event. This fall, five Thacher teams have made it into the play-offs, and not surprisingly, these elimination rounds leading up to the CIF championships have been awfully exciting for the school. In less than three hours we will be lining up at the start line for our first round play-off meet of the post-season, the CIF Southern Section Prelims at Mt. San Antonio College, in Walnut, California. Out of the 15 or so teams that will be running in our heat, the fastest five teams will go on to the next round, which will happen next week. Even though our team has made it through this round for the past few years, I am still anxious about the event. Though the rankings are in our favor, I am concerned about the fact that our number three runner, Justin, is sick and will not race with us today. With one man down, and stress levels rising, will we stand a chance against a host of determined and prepared teams from all over Southern California? Definitely.

[Our team took 5th in our division! On to Fresno and the championships!]