Varsity girls cross country team earns perfect score in the region meet

Photo courtesy of Elsefie Retief The King's Academy boy's and girl's Varsity Cross Country teams both won overall for the second year in a row at the region cross country meet. The team's dedication throughout the season paid off in the end, bringing home two first place trophies.

For the first time in the program’s history, the varsity girl’s cross country team earned a perfect score, ultimately winning their championship meet Oct. 7. In cross country, a perfect score is 15 points, with each runner finishing in the top five places. The five girls, Isabella Vassiliou, Savannah Casey, Alia Casey, Avery Casey and Danielle Retief, all placed top five in the region champion meet. First place went to senior Isabella Vassilou who has been running cross country for seven years. 

“The course we ran is an overall challenging course to PR (personal record) on because of all the twists and turns and many roots could cause you to fall or twist an ankle,” Vassalou said. 

Despite the ups and downs of the difficult course, Vassilou still ran her second best time of 22 minutes and 30 seconds in the 5k, winning first place overall. The region meet consisted of about 30 high school female athletes, one of the smaller but most impactful meets of the season. 

Varsity cross country coach and TKA alumni, Coach Caleb Bass, has led the team for a second time to win the region title, in just two years of coaching the team.

“Instead of focusing on running PR times, we focus on positioning ourselves in good spots throughout the region race so we can finish the race strong and qualify for state,” Coach Bass said. 

Coach Bass encourages each athlete on the team to focus on improving their overall running ability throughout the season. His biggest goal is for each runner to just try their best, push themselves and most importantly to have fun. 

“I have been a part of this sport for over a decade as an athlete, coach and spectator and have never been to a race where a team got a perfect score. Going in, we knew we had a shot at it for sure. I knew going in, we had the seven best runners on the course,” Coach Bass said. 

One of the hardest things for a cross country team to achieve is a perfect score, and the high school girls did just that. 

“My number one priority is to make the Cross Country team a family from 6th graders to seniors. We all run together at every practice. I believe since we prioritize building a family-like atmosphere and close friendships that this brings the team close together so they are more likely to push each other to perform at their best,” Coach Bass said.