Forty-eight — that’s the total number of times this year’s Burlingame cross-country team has trained on the Hallmark Park course. Since June, assistant coach Steve O’Brien has been tallying his team’s trips to this notorious course, intended to guarantee the team’s success during the decisive end-of-season races at Hallmark Park. 

“I keep track of all of our workouts at Hallmark to build up the confidence,” O’Brien said. “Since our athletes are now so familiar with the course, they are aware of the nutrition and hydration needed to prepare for a big effort. I think we are more prepared than any other male or female team in Burlingame history.”

The culminating races occurred on Nov. 11 — the Central Coast Section (CCS) championships. And without a doubt, the considerable effort spent training on the course paid off for senior Jake Ramirez and the entire girls’ varsity squad. 

In the boys’ division, Ramirez finished in 55th place, completing the course in roughly 18 minutes. On the other hand, girls’ varsity won the Division III race for the first time in Burlingame history, led by sophomore Stella Newman, who came in third with a time of 19:01. Junior Lilly Kolmsee crossed the finish line just under a minute after Newman, obtaining an overall time of 19:51.

“I feel so proud of my whole team, this is historic,” sophomore Ellora Horan said. “We didn’t end up third, we didn’t end up second, no, we were first. We’ve all worked so hard to get here and I’m just happy that we are able to do this as a team.”

But the excitement doesn’t end there for girls’ varsity. On Nov. 25, they will compete against schools from across California during the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno. In Burlingame cross country history, only two girls’ teams have advanced this far in a season. 

“This went beyond my greatest expectations,” senior Lauren Gonzalez said. “I never doubted that the rest of the team would succeed and achieve great things, but I just didn’t know that I could be part of the five whose times would allow us to advance to the state [championships].”

To Gonzalez, however, the most significant achievement of the season is not the rankings they attained but the strong team culture they developed. During the time they spent together outside of practice, the girls’ varsity team managed to develop deeper friendships with one another beyond the confines of cross country.

“During a race, you will see a spot of red from a red ribbon in someone’s hair like a hill ahead of you and recognize they are from your team,” Gonzalez said. “Then you think, ‘Oh, that’s Cora, she’s a wonderful person,’ and remember the inspiring things she told you as a runner and it really just motivates you to keep going.”

Ramirez, on the other hand, did not have a team to run with but still managed an impressive performance. Ramirez said he was even more motivated to achieve success because this was his first and last cross-country season.

“This is my only year of doing this so I don’t have a second chance,” Ramirez said. “That’s why when I want to stop during a race, to slow down or catch my breath, I tell myself to keep going because I will look back at this moment and be glad that I pushed myself.”

Whether the championships marked a triumphant close to the season or were a mere stepping-stone to the state championships, it seemed to have played out in the best way possible, considering that all athletes produced outstanding results. But in O’Brien’s view, at the end of the day, what is most important is not individual performance but the journey each runner took to get there. 

“After all of the hard work they have put into, seeing the joy on the faces of runners when they achieve something great like qualifying for state [championships] or a [personal record], it just keeps me in the sport,” O’Brien said. “That’s why I continue to coach at Burlingame, it’s just an amazing high school experience of growth and improvement that I get to watch.”