Girls cross country on their way to success

April Rios, Writer/Photographer

November 2, 2011

After weeks of practice, the varsity cross country girls raced at Cerritos Regional Park, on Oct. 13, in the San Gabriel Valley League second cluster. Over the recent years, the lady Vikings have been working their way up to the top three in the league. This season, the team has finally taken a victory from Warren’s ten-year winning streak by defeating them with a score of 28-30 at the second cluster.

“I felt good, like finally, you know? But I’m not going to be excited until we beat them again at finals,” Alissa Weisenburger, 12, said.

At the race, Nisreen Rizk, 12, was the first to finish the three-mile course with a time of 18:50, while Karen Silva, 10, and Lisa Vasquez, 9, came in third and fourth places with a time of 18:58. Alissa Weisenburger, 12, Ammi Castaneda, 11, Meghan Nevarez, 11, and Brenda Garibay, 12, also contributed to the winning score of 28.

“The hard-work paid off. We all did the things we were suppose to do and it worked,” senior Nisreen Rizk said.

This year, the team is prepared and determined to defeat Warren on Nov. 2 at league finals. Coaches Amy Overgauw and John Kosarich have worked diligently over the past years of coaching to improve the team who is now so close to achieving a historic accomplishment.

“I think that they are going to have to fight for every place, but I also think that with the training that they have put in, they are more than capable of exceeding their victory against Warren,” coach Overgaauw said.

This past win influenced the team to work harder than in previous seasons in order to carry out a historic achievement.

About the Contributor

April Rios, Writer/Photographer

17-year-old April Rios, a senior at Downey High, is one of the new staff members for The Downey Legend. Rios moved to the US from Mexico at age 8 when she was just a first grader. At first she struggled to learn the new language but succeeded at the end. Now at 17 she is deeply in love with writing and photography, although her true passion is photography. She hopes that her photography can transmit her feelings towards certain subjects in life, and she aspires to become a photojournalist for National Geographic Magazine. In addition to this, Rios also enjoys running and volunteering. She loves helping others, which is why she volunteers. Newspaper was a way for this volunteer to experience journalism and gain experience for later goals in life. This journalist, although young, has much to offer to 2011-2012 newspaper staff. Her ambitions will only bring amazing things to the staff. Her goal for this year is to show all students what’s going on from a point of view of someone like himself or herself. “Making a difference” Rios said, “That is all that matters, trying to leave your little grain of sand.” With this mindset surely Rios will be successful not only as a staff member but in her life as well.