The cross country team has its first meet at the Orange County Great Park this upcoming Friday, Sept. 19. But they’re not worried. They’ve been preparing for this all summer.

The team undertook the Hundred Day Challenge this summer, spanning from Memorial Day through Labor Day—exactly 100 days. The runners all recorded their distances in a Google Doc. Coach Nate Miller said that he saw noticeable improvements in the runners who undertook the challenge.

“There were about seven or eight people who took the challenge very seriously,” Miller said. “[Sophomore Julia Dupuis] ran about 400 miles in 100 days. There is a big advantage to participating, it helped improve conditioning, it prevented injuries which are usually very common around this time in the cross country season. I’d say as a whole, we’re much more prepared as a unit because of the challenge.”

The team has big goals this year. Both teams made CIF playoffs last year, and the boys’ team made the state meet (top seven teams in CIF) three years ago. Miller said the boys’ team will rely on its four seniors, Patrick Hynes, Alexis Michaca, Brian Slaughter and Parthiv Worah, as well as juniors Cameron Knollenberg and Calvin Shimano and sophomore Matthew Warden.

The girls’ team will depend on its seniors Brittany Andressoo, Rebecca Fudge, Claire Goul and Brittany Murphy, and also sophomores Dupuis and Julia Lowe.

The runners have similarly high goals for this upcoming season. “We’ve been off to an amazing start for this season. All of our runners have dedicated themselves day in and day out, and everybody is eager to contribute to the team,” Slaughter said.