Cross country season began with a 2nd place win by freshman Braulio Portillo at the first meet here on campus on Aug. 20th. Portillo’s accomplishment of making the top 10 runners caused his teammates to look at him in a different light and even formed a rivalry between he and freshmen Alejandro Bonilla, a member of the cross country team.

“During the summer, I thought I was better because Braulio was lazy and slacked off during practice, but clearly i was mistaken,” said Bonilla.

Portillo’s new rank may have even created friendly competition within his own team. Portillo even admits that the previous race was a tight win.

“At the first meet at Ridge, everyone thought Alejandro was better than me, they even rooted for him. But by the end of the race, I barely beat Alejandro by three seconds,” Portillo said. “Ever since that day we became friendly competition, trying to out beat one another at every meet,” said Braulio with a slight smirk.

The win surprised Portillo himself, as he was determined to take 1st due to his anger he was feeling at the moment. Portillo always prays before his race, but on this day he was interrupted by one of his former teammates, who insulted his beliefs. The anger drove him to determination which lead to 2nd place.

Although Portillo may have slacked during practices, he was determined to drive himself  outside of school.

“During the summer, I worked out a lot at the gym and also attended summer practices here at Ridge,” said Portillo. He believes that if you put in hard work and dedication into what you love most, you will succeed. And success is what he did achieve at the first meet.

Bonilla works hard  during practice and his teammates say he is even better at his meets, but his injuries has stifled his progress.

“I haven’t beaten Braulio but it’s only because I’ve been hurt and sick, so it’s somewhat unfair,” said Bonilla. Bonilla has been taking ice baths to relax his muscles and medicine due to his injuries, but he still has not given up any of his races. Bonilla is still determined to win and has had his heart in winning since middle school.

“In Campbell Middle school, I stayed after school everyday for four hours,” said Bonilla.

Bonillas brother joined cross-country in the 7th grade, and this drove Bonilla to want to succeed in cross country.

“It’s like ever since he joined I always wanted to beat him,” said Bonilla. “Both, my oldest and youngest brother have joined cross country, and I want to be just as good as the oldest.”

Hard work and determination leads to success, that is cross country’s main goal. The team strives to support one another through everything.

Portillo also had a family tie to the sport that he loves.

“Cross-country became apart of me because my mom did it while she was in high school, so I figured ‘why not give it a try?’ and it’s actually going really well for me,” said Portillo. “Just do what coach tells you to do and it’s a guarantee win.”