By Barrett Roberson.
For most cross country runners, the middle of October marks the end of their season and the start of something new. For senior Andruw Villa, it was a time of intense training for bigger events.
Senior Andruw Villa competed in the Nike Cross Nationals, or NXN, race in Portland, Oregon on Dec. 2, a month and a half after the end of the regular season.
“It was good,” Villa said. “It was more like a fundraising event than a competitive race just because of the conditions, but it was so fun.”
Though the conditions of the race were less than ideal, rainfall and a muddy course to run on, Vila still placed as one of the fastest runners in America.
“I placed 50th, so top 50 in the country,” Villa said. “There are 200 kids in the race, but it was nationals, so it’s 200 of the fastest kids.”
With running in a race of this magnitude, one can expect it to be different than any other in his career.
“Before we ran it was different just because it was such a big race,” Villa said. “Like, they called our names when we walked out, so I had like to adjust for my warmup before the race.”
With his highschool career coming to an end, Villa plans to continue his cross country running at the collegiate level with his eyes on Oregon University.
“My favorite part of this year would have to be NXN,” Villa said. “They paid for the flight and all of the gear. I got to meet a couple pro runners and got to take pictures. You know, it was just fun overall race.”
