Cross Country is not Just a Sport for Octavio Gonzalez

The 2020 school year has not been an easy year for anyone, especially our goal oriented students at Selma high school. Student athlete and cross country runner, Octavio Gonzalez a junior at Selma high, is an example of one of these students. Gonzalez, who has been in cross country since his freshman year, shares his dreams and goals for 2020 and beyond.

He talks about times in his sophomore year when he finished first for the Selma team on one of the hardest courses. This being the 5K course run at Woodward park in Fresno. His time at this event was 18 minutes. 

“My goals for this cross country season is to beat my personal records and run a 5k under 17 minutes,” said junior Gonzalez.

A worrying sign for this year’s season is most of California moving back into the purple tier. With all the negative news about California in terms of COVID-19, the team has been forced to cancel all practices until after Thanksgiving break. Gonzalez is not going to let this affect him. He is still excited about all the fun that comes from being in cross country. This includes when the team is on the road to different tournaments, they can explore different cities like Reno, NV, and Pismo, CA. 

“Currently I am staying fit by running around Selma for anywhere between 2-5 miles,” said Gonzalez.

Joining cross country was an interesting turn of events for Gonzalez, as he originally joined cross country to condition for track. However,this didn’t last for long as it quickly became his favorite sport and he decided to stay with it. He is just a junior now but he has dreams of running cross country at the collegiate level. 

“It ended up being my favorite sport,” furthered Gonzalez

As 2020 progresses we will eventually get back to normal and sports can start again. For now though our cross country team will continue to prepare for their upcoming season.