The top five runners in the frosh-soph (freshman and sophomore) boys division were all from MHS at the team’s first meet of the season, the Firebird Invitational, head cross country coach Yohaness Estifanos said. Such a sweep has never happened in MHS history, he added. Other highlights from the start of the season are that the frosh-soph boys team won the first three meets it competed at and freshman Arnav Agrawal broke the freshman school records for the three-mile and 5K runs, he said.
The underclassman athletes and the varsity boys team are particularly strong this year, and the cross country team overall is off to a promising start, Estifanos said. At the Firebird Invitational, Agrawal placed first in the frosh-soph boys division, freshman Aziza Acosta placed first in the Division B girls run, and senior Jordan Althouse placed first in the varsity boys division while simultaneously setting a course record, according to California MileSplit, a website for cross-country meet results.
Placing first “actually felt really good,” Agrawal said. “I remember all of us coming across the finish line, and I just saw ‘Milpitas, Milpitas, Milpitas, Milpitas’ (on the uniforms). I was like, ‘We really are that fast.’”
Last year’s varsity boys team won the Central Coast Section (CCS) title last year and participated in states as a team, Estifanos said. After last year’s seniors graduated, the cross country team is now mostly made up of freshmen and sophomores, he added. For example, the varsity boys team contains three seniors, two sophomores, and two freshmen, he said.
“The kids (underclassmen) were very inspired,” Estifanos said. “They want to work hard and do what the guys did last year. They want to do the same thing; they want to continue the tradition.”
Estifanos’s goals for the season are for both the girls and boys teams to make it to CCS and for the varsity boys to place top two and qualify for states, though the girls team is not in a position to qualify for states, he said. For the varsity boys to reach states, the varsity underclassmen will need to push themselves to catch up with the three seniors on the team, Estifanos said.
“We’re optimistic,” Estifanos said. “It’s tough this year for us, as we only have freshmen and sophomores mostly, but I think we can come close to it (states) like we did last year.”
Along with hoping to perform well in CCS, Acosta aims to beat the freshmen school records, she said.
If Acosta continues to work hard, she may even reach states during her cross-country career, Estifanos said.
“This year is kind of a buffer for our team,” Althouse said. “Our varsity team is solid overall, but the underclassmen are very good this time around, so they have a lot of potential and, if they keep working at it, in a couple of years, I think we have a chance to dominate the league.”
One strength of the team is the ability to take races seriously without stressing out, Acosta said.
“I think there’s good team bonding and good team mentality that everyone will wait at the finish line, give a high five to the other people finishing, (and) cheer them on,” Agrawal said. “That’s what makes Milpitas so strong — we run as a team.”
The team is also hardworking, Acosta said. She trained over the summer, intends to practice over breaks, and is preparing for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon, she said. In high school, athletes need “mental game” and must push themselves instead of relying on others, she added.
“If you really love a sport and you want to do good at it, you have to be committed both mentally and physically,” Acosta said. “I think to get to this level, you have to focus an insane amount.”
For his last year of cross country at MHS, Althouse hopes to get a podium position at CCS finals, go to states again, and get recruited by a college for Division 1 cross country, he said.
“At the end of the season, I expect everybody to beat their personal records because if you’re not doing that, then you’re doing something wrong,” Althouse said. “Maybe we can win a couple of meets, but I want everybody to be better than they were.”