CROSS COUNTRY TEAM CONTINUES TO MEET IN WINTER TERM

Despite having season changes due to COVID-19 this year, the MHCC cross-country team is gearing up for a couple meets and a championship which will most likely happen during Winter Term.

The team (both women and men) has been preparing and practicing with a five-week class. Three athletes practiced in-person at different points during the Fall Term, although most of the instruction was online, where head Coach Fernando Fantroy gave the athletes virtual workouts to do at home.

“They’ve been preparing via the CC class,” he said.

He stated that it has been a challenge, but the runners are making do with the current circumstances.

“This is a new venture for us. You gotta be resilient, you gotta find a way,” Fantroy said.

For practices on the MHCC on campus, there are currently many different protocols to be followed. Some include taking a COVID pre-assessment at home (answering questions on Blackboard about symptoms such as a runny nose or cough) and then taking each athlete’s temperature when they arrive on campus.

The women’s cross country roster for this year includes freshman Souvanny Carpenter, freshman Kaylin Cook, sophomore Rivers Gross, freshman Mackenzie Heideman, freshman Tilly Vasquez, and sophomore team captain Alyssa Showalter.

Showalter, 19, was homeschooled for her freshman and sophomore year and then attended Canby High School her junior and senior years. She earned her GED from MHCC, and she’s in her second year as a college student at Mt. Hood.

This is also her second year on the cross country team. She also competed in two years of track and one year of cross country in high school. She said she chose to attend MHCC because it’s close, as she lives in Boring, and she wanted to get her GED.

One of Showalter’s favorite memories at MHCC includes her last cross-country competition, which was at the NWAC championship meet in Washington last year. She placed 14th in the 5K women’s race with a time of 20 minutes, 20 seconds, in her first competition at the college level.

She has set many goals for this upcoming season.

“I would like to be below (20 minutes),” said Showalter. She’d also like to help others on the team grow and learn, as well.

Aside from running, she hopes to major in psychology and possibly become a neuropsychologist one day. She also enjoys smoothies and listening to ’90s alternate music.

The men’s 2020-21 cross country roster right now includes freshman Gabriel Lira, freshman Christian Meyers, and sophomore team captain Isaac Moulton.

This is 20-year-old Moulton’s second year on the Saints cross country and track teams. He attended Prairie High School outside Vancouver, Washington, and while there did cross country for three years and track for four.

His goals include finishing his classes and graduating at the end of the year with a machine tool technology major. He originally planned to attend Clark College, but its metals (machine technology) program shut down and he decided to come to MHCC.

“I like to create things,” said Moulton. One of his favorite activities is knifemaking, while his favorite music also includes metal.

He said practices this fall have been going all right, although it’s definitely been a different experience. He’s working on preparing for the men’s 8K competition, where his best time in 2019 was 28:25:5.

Moulton says college competitions have been an interesting experience, as it’s usually pretty competitive between different schools.

MHCC was the right choice for him because cross country is his main sport, and for the program he wanted to pursue, he said.

Advocate Staff