PHOENIX – When Griffin Good and the rest of the Mustangs boys cross country team took their mark at Papago Park on Sept. 7 for their first meet of the season, it was the first time many of them were running at a competitive level.

The same can be said about Kayla McNatt and many of her teammates on the girls team.

Little did they know, Good, teammate Meleki Mfitumukiza, McNatt and the entire girl’s team would qualify for the Arizona Interscholastic Association State Cross Country Championships just two months later.

If this story sounds familiar, that’s because it is.

North’s cross country team draws many parallels to McFarland, USA, the 2015 movie about a newly formed, entirely Hispanic high school cross country team that endured many sacrifices yet outworked their competition to become state champions. One of those sacrifices was waking up before the sun to work in the fields before school started in order to help their families make enough money to put a roof over their head.

North High School is nearly 84 percent Hispanic and although the runners on their cross-country team aren’t waking up before sunrise to work in the fields, they are still waking up very early for summer practices to beat the brutal Phoenix heat.

Enter Sarah Ramos-Gonzalez, who won Phoenix Union (PXU) district Freshman of the Year in 2019 for the Mustangs’ girls cross country team. Ramos-Gonzalez is also president of the mock trial club and treasurer of the National Honor Society. Furthermore, she’s North’s class of 2023 valedictorian.

Despite battling frequent injuries such as left hip flexor tendinitis along with maintaining an impressive 4.98 weighted GPA, Ramos-Gonzalez still shows up to practice every single day, whether she is physically able to run or not.

“If I’m not doing cross country, I’m at home doing homework, or if I’m not doing that I’m doing other extracurricular stuff,” Ramos-Gonzalez said. “It can get really crazy, and all you have to remember is that it’s temporary.”

Although cross country may very well be North’s best athletic team in the fall, as the Mustangs had four runners finish in the top 10 of the PXU Cross Country Championship on Oct. 20, they still aren’t getting the funding or attention that they deserve.

Briseida Villasenor, who is the other senior captain on the girl’s team along with Ramos-Gonzalez, thinks that North’s sports teams should be given funds and attention based on their performance.

“We definitely deserve more funding because I see that the football team and other teams in general get more support from the school and the students,” Villasenor said. “Not a lot of people knew about cross country and how good we’re doing...like we came with a trophy and a lot of people didn’t even know what cross country was.”

Although Villasenor’s comments regarding the disparity between the funding that the cross country team and the football team receives on an annual basis are his opinion, they are rooted in facts, as well.

According to the 2022 Phoenix Union annual financial report, the beginning funds for the 2022 North football team were slightly over $23,000. Furthermore, they were given an additional $660 for food and travel.

North’s cross-country team, on the other hand, was given a beginning fund balance of just $675. The team was also provided an additional $300 for student travel, which is typically more than other sports due to many cross-country courses being held at or near mountainous terrains. Even with the additional money, the funding that the Mustangs cross country team receives in comparison to the football team is negligible.

Although there is no denying the fact that North’s cross-country team is underfunded, Good, who is a sophomore and ended the season as North's fastest runner, understands why their team receives less funding in comparison to the other sports.

“Cross country is definitely one of the least funded sports just because there are less people and then also because there is less stuff needed,” Good said.

McNatt, who is also a sophomore and the number two runner on the girls’ team, pointed out that with the restricted funding the Mustangs cross country team receives comes the minute attention as well.

“We win awards, but they don’t really recognize us to the school as much as they would for football,” McNatt said.

McNatt added that the school administration usually isn’t even aware of the team’s performance at their meets, and that the coaches have to notify them when they win awards just to get an announcement.

Although the cross-country team is underfunded, the runners consistently go the extra mile by working harder than any of the other school’s sports teams.

Luis Gastelum, who is a junior on the boys team, exemplifies the physical and mental challenges that it takes to run cross country in the boiling Phoenix heat at North.

Gastelum, who lives farther than most students do from North, has to wake up at 5 a.m. to get to the 6 a.m. practices during the summer months.

“It was too much at the beginning, but then you get used to it and start realizing that it’s better to start the day early,” Gastelum said.

Another challenge that the Mustangs face is balancing academics, which was pointed out by Good, who is one of the many runners on North’s cross country team competing in the sport for the first time.

“It definitely is difficult to keep up with school,” Good said. “Oftentimes we’ll have practices in the evening and then we’ll have practice the next morning.”

Because of the frequent shortened turnaround between practices, the runners aren’t left with much time to do homework or socialize with friends.

For Good and several other runners on the Mustangs who are a part of North’s International Baccalaureate program, trying to juggle cross country with academics can be very difficult.

Despite the hectic lifestyle that keeps the Mustangs cross country team always on the move with very little time to sit back and relax, their love for each other keeps team morale high.

“I love my teammates so much. As a captain, I’m so happy to be here everyday,” Villasenor said. “I see them at their worst, I see them at their best; I see them at every point of the day and it just makes me so happy to be there for them.”

And if their adoration for each other isn’t enough to keep the Mustangs in good spirits, they can rely on their enjoyment for the sport of running to carry them to success and satisfaction.

“I’m really proud to be a runner...It takes a lot of dedication and perseverance to look at something as simple as running and want to do it everyday,” Ramos-Gonzalez said.

Underclassmen on both the girls and boys team appreciate the positivity and dedication that captains Ramos-Gonzalez and Villasenor display on a daily basis.

“She’s a leader, she leads by example, she’s always motivating us,” McNatt said of Ramos-Gonzalez. “She may not be the fastest but she is always there. She’s always pushing us through.”

It’s that devotion and dedication from the Mustangs team captains that bring out the best in everyone, and is a large reason why Good, Mfitumukiza and the entire girls team qualified for state championships despite many of the runners having very little experience in the sport.