Henry Domine is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Arcadia High School for AZPreps365.com

Back in March, Xavier Ortiz suffered a life changing car accident.

The Arcadia senior was ejected from the car, rushed to the emergency room, needed nasal reconstructive surgery, and had screws put in his broken left ankle. 

To come back from injuries like that take time and determination and Xavier Ortiz has those in abundance.

“He is such a positive individual, someone that everyone on the team gravitates toward him, and someone who turns a negative moment into a positive one," Arcdia cross-country coach Tyler Moore said.

Last season, Ortiz trained off and on with Arcadia. He was never able to race consistently with the team because of his work schedule. However, after the car accident Ortiz was had limited mobility.

“I was laying on the couch for days straight trying to recover my ankle," he said. “Coming back on the field, being able to walk, and being around people and go places is an amazing feeling. I am grateful.”

Cross-country is a very demanding sport. It requires very early wake ups, long practices, and difficult workouts. Ortiz spoke about how there were times when he just did not want to wake up and go to practice because of his ankle pain.

Somedays on runs he wanted to push himself to run up with his friends and teammates but could not.

Going from June to November is devoted to train and compete for the season, and at some points progression does not show for runners.

Ortiz experienced that at certain times this season.

“looking at the people in the front, I always wanted to be with them, but my coaches would always tell me when I should slow down in practice," he said.

Moore spoke about these certain times in practice, and said he installs “speed limits for some of our athletes especially on recovery days.”

He added, "We needed to make sure Xavier was recovering and not constantly pushing the pace.”

Even with Ortiz's small time on the team has left a big impact on his teammates, who spoke very highly of him. Fellow senior Scott Gurley said, “It was awesome to see him come back and race, and a great guy to have around.”

One thing Gurly also mentioned about Ortiz is that “he brings that swag to our team.”

Another one of his teammates Leonardo Montoya said, “he is really fun to be around, and you can joke around with him.” He continued, “I think that’s the best thing you can have, someone who elevates the team’s spirit.”

Both Gurly and Montoya also spoke about his time with the team, both said “he started to enjoy cross-country more when he was seeing progression, and meets where he would PR he would be super happy.”

Ortiz wrapped up his one and only season at the Division II East Sectional race, with a personal record time of 21 minutes and 18 seconds, which was good enough for 75th place.