After packing together in a van, the cross country team survived the three hour and a half drive to Fayetteville, Arkansas to compete at the Chile Pepper Festival.

Chile Pepper Festival is a festival where long distance runners from all over the United States come together to race.

Over 5,000 people registered in various levels of teams ranging from college teams, high school teams and even some middle school teams.

The race course is described as being rather flat with only one steady hill for about 500 meters.

Senior varsity captain, Evan Gutel ran a 18:39 and finished among the four hundreds out of 1,000 people.

“A bunch of dirt came up while we were running because it was like a stampede of people, so I finished the race with dirt in my mouth,” Gutel said.

Even though they were running alongside more people than they have at other meets, the team was not intimidated.

“Seeing all of those people sort of motivates you to be faster,” said senior Gabriel Hernandez. “We take advantage of that for our PR (personal record) course.”

Jon Phillips

During their time in Arkansas, the cross country team bonded over dinner, spitball wars, football games and being squeezed next to each other during the trip.

“Everyone was talking… some people were talking more than others,” Hernandez said.

Another team bonding experience involved visiting University of Arkansas’s campus to check out the Sports Hall of Fame and see the stadium and football field.

Gutel believes that events like this brings the team closer.

“We learned more about the personalities of everyone so it was fun,” Gutel said. “I feel like we’re a close team.”

The full results can be viewed here.