Branson Cross Country is off to an excellent start this season, having competed in nine races and compiling a list of impressive individual milestones.
Farah Allen ’27 has won four out of five races, including the De La Salle meet in Concord, California recording the 7th fastest time on the course in 30 years. Gian-Carlo a Marca ’28 won the China Camp race against San Rafael and Redwood and finished second in a race against San Marin and Tam in Mill Valley. Luke Vilhauer ’26 thinks this is the biggest team that Branson has had in his four years.
“I think there’s a lot of team spirit,” Vilhauer said. “We have a mix of athletes who want to get recruited to college and athletes who are out there to have fun, get fit and make new friends. I think the variety of experience levels makes for a really diverse team that is still super well bonded.”
Captain Elena Trimble ’26 is excited by the younger members of the team.
“Lately, we’ve gotten a lot of the younger students … coming into the cross country program [who] have been dedicated to running, which makes it really nice to train with them and to race with them because they’re dedicated to beating their own times and PRing,” Trimble said.
Although the increased size of the team has helped the spirit, it hasn’t come without its challenges.
“We have a lot of people warming up, and we don’t all fit in the weight room, so we have to divide it into upperclassmen and underclassmen lifts. It’s new, but I think we’ve adapted to it well, and it’s worth it to have the energy of more runners on the team,” Vilhauer said.
The team is optimistic that they can close out the season strong, with one more MCAL meet to go before the playoffs begin.
“We have super strong boys and girls teams, and we’re going to be running against some top end talent to wrap up the MCAL season,” Vilhauer said. “Both teams have a chance to compete for a state championship.”
Following the conclusion of the MCAL regular season, the team will compete in the MCAL playoffs, which begin on Nov. 12. Afterward, the top seven boys and top seven girls will compete in NCS for a shot to run individually in the state championship, but even when in individual races cross country isn’t purely an individual sport.
“We have a sense of camaraderie that persists even when you’re racing by yourself,” Vilhauer said. “You know all the work they put in just like you, and we all want to help encourage the team to do as well as possible.”
