On an early morning this past November, 22 runners and two coaches boarded a bus and headed for a Cross-Country meet. Only 12 boys and one girl from the team would be competing, but the entire team left at 5 o’ clock in the morning to cheer on their teammates.
As the hour-and-a-half drive ended, the entire team got off the bus and arrived at San Antonio College, with matching outfits, matching sunglasses on, prepared to support the runners with whom they had spent the entire season training. The team watched their fellow teammates begin the three-mile run up the hills of Mt. Sac, they yelled and cheered, and they opened the season how they closed it: as a family.
Milken’s Cross-Country team has had a whirlwind of a season with ups and downs. Still, as the entire team boarded a bus on November 11 for CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Southern Section preliminaries at Mt. Sac, the entire team was present to cheer the runners on. The season began in August, in the heat of the Los Angeles summer, training and practicing, and as the Milken school year began, the runners and coaches met six days a week, after school, to train. As the season continued, the athletes ran in the league’s meets, working tirelessly to succeed and do the best that they could. And, as the season came to an end, the boys’ team won first place in the Liberty League, with an 18-minute average collectively for the three-mile, and, while the girls’ team did not win in their league, almost every athlete ran their personal best time.
Here The Roar examines two players and a coach who have gone through the ups and downs that come with being on Milken’s Cross-Country team, and the welcoming community that they have experienced:
By joining the Cross-Country team, sophomore Alexa Kashani has improved as a runner immensely. Before joining Milken, she didn’t have experience as a long distance runner. As her mom convinced her to join the team, she began to train the summer before freshman year. At the beginning of her training, Alexa “really hated running” and felt very unmotivated to practice, “I didn’t understand why [my mom] thought I should do it.” Her journey as a runner began at a 10- to 11-minute mile pace, and unbelievably, by the end of freshman year, Alexa was running a 7-minute, 50-second mile pace. More specifically, Alexa now runs three miles in 22 minutes, and is one of the top girl runners in the league.
“Running is a very mentally difficult sport,” says Alexa, who has taught herself how to overcome the mental block that runners get: by telling herself that she is capable of more than she thinks she can, and that she can finish her run. While she often feels very uncomfortable pushing herself through a run, she reminds herself that the pain she feels will be gone “within five minutes of completing the run.” Though running is mentally difficult, it serves to be extremely rewarding after completing a difficult run and then to celebrate with the team. Alexa feels as though the entire Cross-Country team helps her get through the tough runs and races. “On every run, the entire team is cheering you on,” the motivation that the entire team gives is what keeps Alexa going. She views the group as a very “close knit team.”
Danica Cheney ‘26, also had a difficult, yet rewarding first season on the team. She began running longer distances this past summer after a season on Milken’s track team. She started her training running just half of a mile, to now, six months later, being able to run five to six miles. It was mentally tough for Danica to “push myself and [not] just wanting to give up.” After being on the team for a season, even though she is one of the slowest runners on the team, Danica “never had a moment where I didn’t feel like I was part of the group.” Overall, the Cross-Country team is such an inclusive group, and Danica feels like “those people are like the best people you can surround yourself with.”
Coach Crane, one of the two coaches on the Cross-Country team and Milken science teacher, is an experienced runner and coach. She began running in her senior year of high school, and then ran on her college’s D3 Cross-Country team. Coach Crane started coaching Milken’s team in 2018 and has seen the team’s size and successes only grow. She was especially proud of the team in the the 2022 season, as the boys team won league for the first time since 2002, and the girls team won for the first time ever. For Ms. Crane, “it was one of the proudest moments” for her as a coach to watch the banner unveiling in Milken’s gym last spring which celebrates the athletics team’s league wins. She’s really excited to see the girls team grow and the Cross-Country team “becoming a bigger, more solid program.” While the sport is mentally and physically tough, Ms. Crane sees the encouragement on the team and feels like “there’s something to celebrate every day” when the athletes complete very hard workouts.
Cross Country is a mostly individual sport, yet, the team calls themselves a little family. They have to make a greater effort to become a community rather than other sports in which teammates play together side by side. Talia Breckner, a senior, has been running on Milken’s Cross-Country team since seventh grade. As a seasoned runner, she recommends runners to “stay optimistic,” and as a team, the positive atmosphere “creates an energy where you can genuinely tell that everyone does better.”
