For the past couple weeks, the Carl Hayden Community High School Falcons have been practicing at Steele Indian School Park, the site of their next race. On Tuesday, the Falcons will race in the Phoenix Union District Meet. 

Last year, the Falcons dominated this race and easily took home first place with 33 points, followed by Trevor G. Browne High School with 90 points. The Falcons expect the same result this year. “I think we have a really good shot to win it again,” coach Gabriel Robles said.

Because of winning it last year and having high expectations for the rest of the season, Robles said “the whole varsity boys team feels that pressure."

Robles has tried to reduce the pressure on his team by making his runners accustomed to the course. “We always try to educate the kids on the course that they will be running on. Or we will practice in conditions similar to the course,” Robles said. 

One of Robles’s favorite aspects of cross country is how every course is different. This course in particular might be a favorite for senior Xavier Levario. 

Levario described the upcoming race as “precious.” He talked about the scenery of the park, including a large lake, and how beautiful it is while running. “This one just has the view, and it makes me feel like I can go as fast as I want during this race,” he said. “I expect myself to not give in to exhaustion or tiredness that I may have that push me down during the race.”

Robles doesn’t care too much for the beauty of the course or the lake. Instead, he has been focusing on the hills. Along the course, there are two short-but-steep hills that they must run over. Robles wants them to feel confident running up the hills, and not fear them. 

“They have made us run the hills, because they know the course will have hills. If you can’t run hills, you won’t do good in the race, so it’s hills, hills, hills,” said junior Jeff Sumaili. “The expectation is that we run well because we’ve been working on this in practice.” 

Running the course leads to different mindsets entering the race. While some runners expect this to give them an advantage, other runners don’t think that it matters. Sumaili, for example, expects this to give them an advantage. 

“A lot of people don’t get the advantage to come out to the course to train, but we do,” he said. "So we already have the course in our mind. We know how to hit the hills. We already have that in our minds and they don’t.”

Levario thinks otherwise. “They’ve worked just as hard as us, but we’ve never seen them on this course. They can do just as good as us on this course,” he said. 

The boys varsity race will start between 4:15 and 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The course will start at Central High School and continue through the Steele Indian School Park.