With less than two weeks until conference, the Leyden girls’ and boys’ cross country teams competed against Hinsdale South and Addison Trail on Monday, October 3. The race took place on the same course that will be used for conference next week Saturday, October 15.

Leyden cross country beat its rival Addison Trail but placed second behind Hinsdale South. Dioco Reyes, one of the captains for the boys cross country team, said, “The guys did very well. They all started off very quickly and were able to compete throughout the race.”

Vanessa Gallegos, one of the captains for the girls’ cross country team, also says her team did very well since they “showed [they] can compete against Hinsdale despite missing one of the varsity runners in this meet.” The girls team had beat them in the conference meet last year and hope they can pull it together and make it happen again.

Conference will be held in Katherine Legge Memorial Park hosted by Hinsdale South which was the same course Leyden, Hinsdale South, and Addison Trial all ran on Monday. Dioco said that “running on the same course helped the guys get a feel of how conference will be.” Top runners Patrick Sarad, Brian Santos, Julian Munoz, and Armando Alvarez are expected to run well for conference.

The girls team is preparing for conference by “using this week to train hard so that next week, [they] can prepare tapering down to rest and prepare for the meet,” Gallegos said.

Another captain, Jasmine Salvador explained, “I feel like many of the girls are preparing themselves for conference mentally at this point. We have raced at the course for conference so we know what to expect. We’ve faced all the teams in our conference and know we have the ability to take second.” Salvador, Jazmin Santoyo, Jazlyn Zavala, and Evie Perez are also expected to run well this conference.

Morale for the team is very high, and chemistry and accountability is constantly stressed by the coaches. The cross country teams will show the result of their hard work and dedication next Saturday at the conference meet at Hinsdale South.