Cardinal Newman Cross Country had a great start to the season in Ukiah where the girls won their meet with Senior Lucia Estrada and Junior Emma Jovanowski leading the Newman charge and showing a lot of grit, endurance and effort during their runs. Despite not having enough runners, the Newman boys team showed to be great runners with Junior Adrian Estrada posting a fantastic 20:10 time on a very hilly Ukiah cross country course. Ukiah's course is the standard 3 miles but challenges runners with a lot of rapid incline and decline which can cause runners to lose control and fall. Posting a good time there is hard and Estrada pulled it off. Newman left Ukiah with a win, great times and a lot of promise with their new coach Dylan Kattengell.
Newman then went on to face Healdsburg High School last Wednesday, a tough team to race against, but the girls were able to get another win. The team fought well while running at Foothill in Windsor, another tough, hilly course. Jovanowski, Estrada and Sophomore Andrea Dickey-Blanco ran well for the girls after a great week at practice. Adrian Estrada ran great for the boys once again as he proved to be their x-factor. Newman cross country had a meet on Wednesday and results for that will come out soon. The Cardinals seem really good this year and Coach Kattengell has worked a lot for their results, training the Cardinals well in practice.