(Photo by Alan Versaw)
Madi Bucci (Senior)
Going into the race this year, I already had an idea of what to expect. The course two years before had been challenging and at parts felt like a slip 'n' slide (to this day I claim that Evan Jaeger caught me at the finish line to keep me from falling in the mud; I refuse to believe otherwise). So when the gun went off this year, I was definitely more mentally prepared for what was coming. I made sure to position myself well from the beginning as Coach Messer had advised me to do. Surprisingly, the race took off faster than I had remembered, and I struggled to maintain my place. I told myself just to keep going and to focus on passing people one at a time. Soon enough, I was already rounding the last bend and climbing up the final hill. The phrase "finish on empty," which Nike had engraved into our brains all weekend, came to mind. I left everything I had on the course with the sudden realization that it was not only my last cross country race of the season, but my last cross country race as a Desert Vista athlete. When I saw my teammates afterwards, I could tell that everyone had also given it their all. From what we could see based on the 2-mile mark rankings, we were in 4th place, which was a step up from our placing at NXN 2014. We ended up placing further back at 6th, but frankly I didn't care about the outcome. All I know is that I am truly blessed to be a part of this team, and I wouldn't trade these last four years for any other high school experience.