School: Mountain Ridge High School
Your name: Hunter Krasa
Q: What does your training look like right now given the current situation?
A: Still business as usual! We aren't practicing as a team but I am still training and following my normal plan on my own, and with a handful of teammates if permitted.
Q: What are you doing to stay busy other than run right now?
A: I'm currently spending a lot of time working on music. I've played drums for the last eight years and have decided to pick up bass as well right now. Reading, coding and some gaming also take up most of the rest of my time.
Q: What was your most memorable race/moment?
A: Overall my most memorable race moment was the Footlocker West Regional Meet for cross country. It was exciting to feel as fast as I did going into the race and juggling the last-minute race changes led to one of the craziest meets I've ever been a part of. It also helped that I scored a PR and third-team all-region!
Q: What was the funniest thing that happened during your running career?
A: A group of guys that I was with on an 11-12 mile long run decided it would be a good idea to pound a cup or two of Mountain Dew at the Quick Trip around a mile out from the school and sprint back. Dropped into the low fives for our last mile, wrestling the entire way and almost threw up afterward. Hilarious, and worth it.
Q: Who would you consider your biggest competition over your four years?
A: Braedon Palmer, Jose Acuna and now Xander Black. Every race against any of them seems to always be anybody's game, I've won and lost against all of them pretty evenly.
Q: What was your greatest accomplishment?
A: Running at Footlocker West Regional and being the fastest representative from AZ, while scoring in the top 18 out of 12 different states was pretty incredible.
Watch highlights of the 2019 Boys AZ Division 1 AIA Cross Country State Meet - Hunter took 3rd overall.
Q: If you could do it all over again what would you change about your running career in high school?
A: I'd take a little bit more control over my training into junior year. With new coaches, there was a bit of adjusting to do and my training and body suffered a little more than I would've liked as a result. Overall though, it's been a great four years!
Q: What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome?
A: As mentioned before, getting new coaches in cross country and track going into my junior year was definitely a learning experience for all of us. Training changed a lot over the course of the year and it took a while to adjust.
Q: What will you miss the most?
A: Placing high or winning almost every race I'm a part of for sure. I'll be running at Loyola Marymount University in the Fall as part of their D1 Cross Country and Track team and I know the competition will be a whole lot stronger at that level. I'm excited about the challenge though!