With Cross Country being one of Ridgeview High School’s most successful sports, this talented team is expected to be tough opponents to face in the league. Coach Triandous Hobson, who also ran cross country at Ridgeview years ago, is ready to lead his athletes to a competitive season.

     With his best runners, Anicia Carrillo and Manuel Lopez, the leaders of the team, they both are looking to make some noise in their last season. Both Carrillo and Lopez have been in the Ridgeview Cross Country program for all four years and they know the ins and outs of the program. The boy’s Cross Country team finished in first while the girl’s team finished second in league last season. Both of Hobsons top runners being a part of championship-winning teams in the past, they are both looking to win another championship in their final senior season. Last season,  Carrillo and Lopez set season bests in the three-mile run and also the 5,000 meter. Both athletes are very dedicated to the sport and each athlete has their own ways to stay motivated. For Carrillo, her motivation really comes from her family and her coaches stating, “My motivation mainly comes from my family and especially my coaches… I would love to make them proud.” For Manuel, he stated, “My motivation comes from the things that I can control… I can control my pace, body, and mindset when I’m running.”

      This is Coach Hobsons third year coaching at Ridgeview and his second year being the head coach for varsity. Hobson gives props to his old coaches for his success saying, “I had really good coaches and I’m thankful that they put a lot of time and effort into me and I would love to give my athletes that same opportunity.” His motivation comes from his athletes, especially his stand-out runners being Carrillo and Lopez. “I love seeing my kids get better… It’s really cool seeing my kids work really really hard and at the end look back on how much they have grown as an athlete and as a person in general.” With high expectations from a talented Cross Country team, those same high expectations also apply to students’ grades and academics. 

     Cross-country athletes at Ridgeview have high expectations. A 3.0-grade point average is needed rather than a 2.0 GPA like any other sport. Of course, winning a championship, whether it be league, valley, or state is a great accomplishment for any team. But winning a championship can mean different things for different people. For Hobson, a championship win wouldn’t mean much to him stating, “I’m more so concerned about if the kids get better. I’m more interested in that than winning medals or trophies or anything like that.” Carrillo and Lopez’s answers were quite the opposite of  Hobson’s answer. Both of the athletes said that a championship would be so awesome and would mean a lot to both of them. They say it needs to be a team effort for the whole team to be successful, not just a few runners but the whole team. Cross country is a very hard sport both physically and mentally but the memories made, championships won, friendships made, and unbreakable bonds created between coaches and athletes make the sport so much fun. Both Carrillo and Lopez as well as Coach Hobson have created countless memories while running and all encourage anyone to come out and practice and have fun. “It sucks at first… once you get in shape and then it becomes easier and then you have to push yourself but it’s really fun”, says Hobson.