After a long season of hard work, discipline and training, Junior Belen Santiago ends her season at CIF State Championships! Let’s see what she has to say about her experience competing at such an impressive level.
Q: What additional competitions did you compete in to get to State and how was your experience racing?
A: This year, I got to run at CIF prelims, Finals and State. It was an experience that I am very proud of since I was able to make it this far while only being in my second year of Cross Country. Though I did have a fun experience at each race, I am also dealing with a knee injury that has affected my training. I was still able to push through that pain in every race and perform to my very best. The races were all big and crowded; I had fun a lot of fun at each one.
Q: What was the set-up like?
A: We were set up in different heats for prelims: heats 1, 2 and 3. I made it second in my race (heat 3) as an individual, which I believe was the 3rd fastest time for my division that day in all heats, and a PR from my previous race at Mt. SAC (19:56.0 to 18:50.2). For finals, I was able to place 8th in my race and 4th fastest individual time. It was the same course at Mt. Sac, and I PR’d from prelims (18:50.2 to 18:30.1). State was in Fresno and Woodward Park, and it was packed with all divisions with both boys and girls. There I placed 27th out of almost 200 girls and had a time of 18:43.7.
Q: What made it different from other competitions?
A: CIF was different from all the other races I competed for; they were the most important races of the season this year. It did stress me a ton after prelims, thinking I had to train extra hard to get through Finals to move onto State. I was worried about my knee because it lasted all CIF and I didn’t want to make it worse, but I was also in CIF so I couldn’t rest.
Q: What was your overall take away from racing at such a high level?
A: Overall, CIF was an amazing experience, and I am so thankful to God for giving me the ability to make it this far. I am thankful for my parents, especially my mom, for taking the time to support and drive me to all my races and training sessions. I am also thankful for my Coach, my teammates and Coach Hills who supported me all through my season this year.
We are so proud of Belen for her amazing performance and wish her a speedy recovery!
