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Cross country program begins for Portales

PORTALES — It’s a new era for Ram athletics, as Portales has not only experienced a number of new coaching hires this year, but will also trot out a new athletics program — cross country. It will be the first time in several years that the Rams have featured such a program.

For coach Michael Aunan, there’s a simple philosophy that he wants his athletes to abide by.

“Compete. I think that’s gonna be our program slogan, from here on out,” Aunan said. “Compete. It doesn’t matter who you race against, you find somebody and you try and beat them.”

Aunan couldn’t stress that word enough, as he says that competing on and off the course can make you a big success in life, and that’s what he tries to preach to his kids.

A total of 13 boys and two girls will compete on this year’s team, allowing for a full varsity roster, along with a handful of junior varsity members.

Although he has his eye on three kids in particular, he says the others are ready to step in and give everything they have.

Overall, Aunan is thrilled to get this new cross country program going. “For me personally, I love cross country. I ran four years when I was in high school. It’s just a huge honor to be given this opportunity to start this program,” Aunan explained.

“For the school, I think cross country is a great way to get involved. Not everybody is meant to be a football player, not everybody is meant to be a soccer player. But cross country, anybody can go out and run. Just that fact, it’ll help out the track team later on, it’s just a great way to get involved with the school and become a part of something more than just yourself.”

His Rams will get started this afternoon at the Clovis Invitational. Thus far, he says his team has worked their tails off, and is especially proud of how they go out and give it their all every day — despite the rigors of running hills and running mile-intervals in the heat.

Aunan once again stressed the word “compete” for today’s event. However, he did joke that being the team’s first race, they have nowhere to go, but up. Ultimately, he’s hoping that his kids can improve each day, slicing off a few seconds of their mile times each week.

So, what does he envision out of this program long term? “I would love to have 50 boys and 50 girls,” Aunan said, laughing. “That would be pretty awesome, and I know that’s a pretty lofty goal. It’s definitely a year-to-year thing. There’s so much growth between these four years. You get that sense of family with the team, and you keep inviting people in. That’s really how you have to grow the program.”

 

 
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