Coyotes Cross Country first season comes to end, looks forward to bright future

Cerro Coso Cross Country program ended its first season at the Conference Meet on Friday, October 28th. The Coyotes had three runners for their first season under first year head coach Laura Ortiz. The Coyotes head coach spoke on the last meet for her runners.

"Christian (Schultz) last meet was at Mt. Sac in September and obviously he won and set the course the record that had been standing since 2007. Everybody was amazed at how well he did and that he crushed the record by 37 seconds. It was great to see him go out and preform as well as he did," Ortiz said. "My girls they held on steady. We are not the fastest team out there but they represent Cerro Coso very well. They are very humble and don't quit they just keep going no matter how hard the courses are. Their last meet was at Conference and we didn't have a big enough team with just the two, Katherine Martinez and Katheline Faulkinbury. They represented this team all through and through, and I'm so happy they both decided to run for Cerro Coso. I told them they were going to be my rock and they were going to start this with Christian too. They have put Cerro Coso on the map with running but unfortunately he didn't go to conference due to his injury. If you don't go to conference you can't run regional and move on. But anything can happen."

At the Mt. Sac Meet, Schultz broke the old track record in his first season running for the Coyotes. Ortiz spoke on how Schultz's season and breaking the course record have had a positive on the program.

"Its a huge deal because coming as a very small school, we only have three runners, and him coming out and setting the record like that a lot of people look at Cerro Coso," she said. "They are like what are they doing out there, how did they get this kid to come out and run, which is very nice in our first year as head coach. Its a great way to start to program like that. It shows that we are small but strong."

With the first season over, Ortiz looked backed at the first season for the Coyotes cross country program and how it was a great start to what Athletic Director John McHenry and her are looking to build.

"I think this was a really great start. Like I said we only have three runners, Cerro Coso is small, and I think its a win even if we didn't get to finish all the way through conference, regional, and state," Ortiz said. "I think its a win still because we were able to make a name for Cerro Coso and make people see that we do have kids out here. And hopefully with Christian helping us get the wins and the girls have ran and represented Cerro Coso so well, we can get more runners and open up more doors for kids to come out and look. We want it to grow and with the girls and Christian they have made a mark here so the community and outside hopefully see its a good running program and we have a running program."

After a successful first season the Coyotes cross country program will look to expand the roster. Ortiz is hoping, praying, and believes after the season and success they had will help her in recruiting more runners. She goes into the off season with more time to speak with local runners and neighboring towns like Lone Pine and Bishop, as well as current students to fill out a roster to be able to score points next season. Ortiz said the goal is to have five men and five women runners next season, and that creates an excitement for next season.

"The excitement is Christian will be back and healed, and maybe he will set more records. With my girls they will have a stronger base and hopefully improve greatly and we hope to have more girls and guys on the team. And that we will actually have a scoring team," the Coyotes coach said.