Cross-country girls ready for first meet Tuesday

The Trojans girls cross-country team is ready to run. Their first meet will be on Aug. 30 against Sunrise Mountain in Las Vegas at 4:30 p.m.

Although they are ready now, if you were to ask Trojans coach Matt Kolodzieczyk if they were ready a month ago, the answer would have been different.

Back in July, the Trojans barely had a team and if they had more than two girls at practice the coach was thankful. What a difference a month makes. The team steadily grew to seven and by the time school started they had 10 girls.

One of the top runners returning for the girls will be senior Alicia Quiroz.

“I think she will have some competition and be at the top,” the coach said. “I also think she can get down to 22 (minutes) this year. We are hoping for that. She can do that. She just has to believe in herself to do that. Last year she really improved.”

Quiroz went from a time of 25 minutes, 59 seconds in the 5,000 meter to a 23:50.7 last year.

“I really want to get my time down,” Quiroz said. “I want to be around 20 this year, near where the boys are. I think we have a lot of fast girls, like Diamond, Terrena, and Katie. They are all working really, really hard.”

Kolodzieczyk said her competition will be coming from junior Grace Plumb and freshman Terrena Martin.

“Plumb has been looking fast in practice,” he said. “She just came out and started running with the guys over the summer and she is keeping up with them. She has been here but just decided to come out for cross-country this year so we are thankful for that. She looks like she can move.”

Quiroz agrees with the coach.

“I run with Terrena Martin, Diamond Sonerholm and Grace,” Quiroz said. “Grace is fast and small.”

Quiroz said the new girls are pushing her to beat the 22-minute mark.

Plumb is just happy to be on the team.

“This is my first time running,” Plumb said. “It never occurred to me to run. I came out because of PE and really got into running and started to run at home.”

Martin is one freshman among seven who ran at Rosemary Clarke Middle School.

“I love it, it’s great,” Martin said. “I love everything about it, just running, even in the heat. I like the physical side. I like the mental side because I like thinking about it. If I just run it’s just fun and I keep pushing myself to keep up with them (the team).”

On Friday the Trojans will have a simulated race and to see how everyone stacks up for the first meet.

“I would like to see the girls push each other more,” the coach said. “We will use the golf course and it was a pretty good indicator of where they will fall.”

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com