For the first time in nearly a year, Ojai Valley School will take part in its first competitive sporting contest as the cross country team prepares to host Omega League runners on the school’s tough Pi course on Wednesday.
Three Omega League teams are scheduled to compete in the mid-week meet, the first official match or game since COVID precautions forced cancellation of sports seasons last March.
The gathering is expected to be small, with most Omega League teams choosing to sit this one out.
However, the meet provides a bit of good news for those high school athletes and coaches who have been hoping to salvage at least a part of their seasons this year.
“We’ve been preparing for this possibility for months,” said OVS cross country coach Fred Alvarez. “We’re going to have a range of COVID precautions in place to help keep our athletes safe, but I’m really excited that our runners are going to get at least a chance to compete.”
This year for the first time, OVS is competing full-time in the Omega League, which is made up of about a dozen schools in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Wednesday’s meet is one of four cross country meets scheduled to take place at OVS.
As with many fall sports, the cross country season was pushed back several months due to COVID concerns. While Ventura and Los Angeles counties remain in the most restrictive purple tier for COVID restrictions, cross country is allowed to compete because it is classified as a low-contact sport.
The OVS team held base training runs in the first semester, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many runners have had a hard time training as they normally would.
“COVID has definitely limited my training capabilities as running on public trails is harder as I try to avoid other people,” said senior Gabe Weisiger, who was the team’s top runner last year. “During summer I was unable to train when I really wanted to get out there and run.”
Last year, Gabe earned ninth place overall in the Condor League championship race, a performance that is due in large part to his diligent work. Though the coronavirus pandemic has been an obstacle for training, he believes that the team will be ready to compete even in this delayed and shortened season.
“I believe in myself and my team to get back into the groove and as conditioned and ready as we have been in the past,” Gabe said. “Performance is based on how hard you push yourself in practices, and the team is definitely giving it their all.”
New runners also joined the team this year, including brothers Ben and Alexander Manning.
Alexander, a junior, has run cross country before. Ben has not.
Still he is confident, nervous and excited to compete with other runners.
“While I am confident in my running ability, this will be my first race, and my nerves may cause issues,” Ben said. “But to me, being nervous just means that I care (about running). I am a competitive person and would like to see how I stack up against some other runners.”
Sophomore India Getty-Pruss is the lone returner to the girls team this year. She is also the lone member of that team, and will represent OVS on her own on Wednesday.
“Since for the meets teams are divided by gender, I will be running alone for OVS, which mentally can be challenging,” India said. “I am kind of nervous because I don’t really know where I place, especially against other girls teams.”
But despite her nervousness, India believes the fight in cross country is a fight in herself, and it’s one that is both mental and physical.
“Even though cross-country is a team sport, I do believe that it can be an individual competition,” she said. “Running with other people is mentally a lot easier, but sometimes I am not trying to beat the person in front of me. I am trying to beat a struggle I had last year, or a time I didn’t feel good about, or run a section I might have walked in the past. Although it is a competition, I am really only trying to do better than I did last year.”