By Henry Erlandson ’16
THE ROUNDUP

The varsity cross country team finished 9th overall place in this year’s November state meet.

The team was an underdog coming into the 2013 season with a handful of juniors, a senior, a sophomore and a freshman.

Mr. Matt Williams ’07, a former cross country runner himself, is now entering his third year as an assistant varsity cross country coach.

Despite the loss, he said he was excited and proud of his team’s finish, especially of sophomore Luis Torres ’16, who was Brophy’s top finisher in the state meet.

As one of the top runners, Torres said his pre-race rituals include blasting his Drake playlist, praying after their team warm up and giving himself positive words of encouragement.

Six of the team’s top seven runners returning for next year.

Torres said he expects to drop at least one more minute and place in the top 20s at state for next year.

Torres completed the race 50th overall with a time of 17:11, dropping his time from last year by a full two minutes.

Although this year’s title run fell short, Mr. Williams said he is confident in his team’s ability to win a championship every season.

He said he looks for players who can “push themselves, deal with pain and have the desire to compete and win.”

He said his goal is to help turn the older runners into an elite class of competitors who cannot only excel in each race, but also develop younger talent, such as freshman Luke Mason ’17.