Story by Jordan Spurgeon

The Palomar Women’s Cross Country team won the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Championship on Oct. 28.

The top five runners for the Comets earned all conference honors. Freshman Addison Rose finished in second place, followed by fellow freshman Alexia Delgadillo who finished in third. Jolie Beentjes finished in fifth, Brianna Frain finished in eighth and Mila Beentjes finished 13.

At the championship meet, Rose finished second overall with a personal best time of 20:00 minutes. Delgadillo finished in third place with a time of 20:35. The two pushed each other back and forth all season long.

“It doesn’t matter what place we get, as long as we are working as a team,” said Delgadillo.

“When I saw her in the race I used her to push myself to catch her to be better for our team,” said Rose.

As a team, the women spent all of their practices pushing each other to be better. Cross country is viewed as a solo sport, but team success was important to them. 

“We learned that we could work better together than we could on our own,” said Frain.

Coach Sonia Rodriguez had her hands full before the season began, when she took over the coaching duties for the men’s team, while still coaching the women’s team. The team went through adversity all season long but she is proud of how they’ve come together and pushed past any obstacle in their way.

In cross country, the times of each team’s top five runners count towards their score. Each overall place in the race has a point value. Coach Rodriguez said, “One thing we did really well was run in a pack. All of our runners one through five and outside our top five did a good job pushing each other to finish ahead of other teams’ top five to lower their scores.”

Balancing school and cross country is tough for many of these student-athletes. Sophomore Mila Beentjes considered not returning to run this year because she is taking 19 units in total. 

“It’s possible to balance school, practice and a job, but you just have to want it,” Beentjes said.

Winning the PCAC championship was just one goal for this team. They still have their eyes set on making a name for themselves at Regionals.

“Last year we got thirteenth place out of 13 teams in Regionals, but this year we’re the underdogs that other teams fear,” said Frain, “ We are looking forward to showing that we are better than people believe.”