By the time King Cross Country's tenth season started in mid-July of 2008, many of the returning runners had already been logging consistent and steady miles since November of 2007.  A frustrating end to the '07 season suffered by the boys' team had inspired a number of key returners to take the offseason training and subsequent track season more seriously as prepartion for the 2008 campaign.  Training and racing well in the 6 months between the end of '07 and start of '08, the boys made a public goal of returning to the CIF Finals after several years of not even being in contention. The girls, six years in a row at CIF Finals, and a string of league titles needing two hands to count quietly conceded that a State berth was to their liking. Fit and ready, the first month of July looked more like a mid-race surge than a starting line.

Buoyed by tremendous levels of fitness and a growing stable of talent, the season got off to a tremendous start. The teams traveled out to Ventura for the Seaside Invitational. Despite a poorly staged meet, the racers took advantage of the cool ocean temps and flat course to rip off a bunch of personal and team-time records. It was an auspicious start!

From there the invitational season had many of the familiar stops such as Mt.Carmel, Clovis and Mt.SAC, but sandwiched inbetween was King's first trip to Huntington Beach for the Fountain Valley "Central Park" invitational. It wasn't loaded with topflight teams, but the girls still managed to win the varsity heat and the boys notched a 5th place team finish without running their normal complement of "top 7" runners. The late-September race gave the groups momentum going into the critical month of October.

The teams seemed to being poised for greatness after tremendous accomplishments at the Clovis Invitatational in early October. Both varsity teams shattered the school records for Woodward Park or any other 5K course.  Though their finishing places in the studded "Championship Races" were mid-pack or below, the individual and collective achievements spelled out very good things for the direction the program was headed.  The girls' team time, 95:28 is and was a typical "Top 10" team time at the State Championships held on the very same course in November.

The creation of the "Big VIII" league posed a curious attraction to King's 10th season. With three teams (North, King and Poly) leaving the defunct Ivy League to join the Corona schools in the defunct Mountain View Leauge, the Big VIII presented itself as a league challenge quite different from any of the previous league situations King had faced. The girls would find the going easier than the boys, despite a good Corona squad that made the Lady Wolves keep it honest.  The girls went undefeated all season and Kelsi Tippets earned the inaugural Big VIII League MVP. 

The boys had a deeper pool in which to wade in comparison to recent Ivy years.  Accustomed to having only one strong league team to contend with in the past, the boys faced three proud progams in the Big VIII, led by Corona (the eventual league winner), Roosevelt and Santiago. King would win the first cluster meet by a point over Corona, but ran poorly at the league final, finishing third behind Corona and Roosevelt.

Given the great start of the season and the goals the teams harbored, CIF action was brimming with potential and opportunity. A series of out of control brush fires and high heat in the surrounding communities forced the CIF races at Mt.SAC to be held on a modified 2-mile course layout. Neither team seemed to mind the change, and both groups performed tremendously in the race. The boys finished a disappointing 5th place overall, just 15 points from a spot in the CIF Finals.  Disappointing for sure, but in retrospect an incredible accomplishment. Had the team been seed in the third heat of the day, they would have qualified as the third place team in that race. Likewise, 5th place was a far cry ahead of where they finished the year prior, 12th.

The girls looked like potential state qualifiers in their preliminary round, finishing 2nd and moving on to CIF Finals for the seventh straight season. There they would again run well, though not quite to their potential. Still the team notched 10th place, King's highest-ever finish in CIF Finals, and Kelsi Tippets finished 5th overall and moved on to the State Finals.

With a posse of supporters, reminiscent of Carrisa Bowman's individual trip to the State meet in 2006, Kelsi made a great showing in her first State meet race. She finished 23rd overall, a bit of a personal disappointment, but nonetheless a tremendous effort in a loaded field. 

Kelsi and Lane Werley were voted by their teammates as the team MVP's, while Kelsi earned "Riverside County Athlete of the Year" honors and The Press Enterprises' Runner of the Year award.

At the end of the season, the boys varsity team was honored as the Riverside County Academic Champions with the highest GPA (3.74) of any cross country team in Riveside County.

Competitively the 2007 campaign was one of the best King has put together. On the boys side, few returning varsity runners were present in June, leaving a lot of questions to be answered by up-and-coming JV and Frosh Soph athletes. Despite the youth and inexperience however, the group really began to jell by late August, and though they took some hits in the scores of early races, by mid-season the team was looking like a team and racing well. The turning point came in the dual against La Sierra when the guys took it to the highly touted Eagles, and though King came away with a loss, the close and spirited battle showed the mettle that would come to define the group. In the end, the team finished second in the league, the JV boys were first, and bowed out of the season with a solid performance at the CIF prelims. Led by MVP Charlie Alvarez, it really was a group effort throughout the season that carved out such noble accomplishments.

The girls continued their impressive streak of victories and strong performances. They were unchallenged in the league season, winning easily in all contests, including their seventh straight league title. Ranked in the top 10 of CIF Division One all season and boasting of team MVP Carissa Bowman and All-State Sophmore Kelsi Tippets, a front-two tandem that was almost unmatched by any team in the Southern Section, the team made it to CIF Finals as expected, this, the sixth year in a row of such a feat. But when the season was on the line and a chance at qualifying for the State meet was in play, it was not to be and the season ended like a fallen house of cards on the final day.

The disappointment of that day did not diminish the power of the season, however. The theme of community governed much of what was done and thought about, as the team endeavored to live out the concept of “The Beloved Community” that Martin Luther King spoke often about while he was alive. Seeking to leave an impact on those around us, the team embraced several opportunities to reach out in love.

The first came from within our team, as one of our own seniors faced in late August the greatest trial of his life: Brain surgery. Patrick Gonzalez, an inspirational team leader, was afflicted with a brain tumor that he endured over the previous three years. When the doctors finally decided it was time to remove the growth, Pat and the team faced the questions and fears that come with any serious operation, and both he and the team came through with flying colors. Pat healed more quickly than predicted, (in fact, he was King’s fastest runner by the season’s end), and the team came through with genuine care and concern for their leader.

On a broader scale, the team participated in two activities to help others in need. Partnering with a local homeless advocacy group, the team donated over 200 pairs of running shoes for the homeless living in Los Angeles. The team also put together a fundraising drive on the final day of the season to raise money for BloodWater:Mission, an organization that works to dig much needed drinking water wells in sub-Saharan Africa. The drive netted over $2,000 for the organization's "1000 Wells Project".

Perhaps the highlight of the season came in mid-October. In order to help bring home the emphasis we placed on the Beloved Community concept of Martin Luther King, the team traveled to the birthplace of Dr. King’s Civil Rights movement in the 1950’s, Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama. For four days, the team traveled to the famed cities and toured the Civil Rights landmarks, such as Dr. King’s home church - Dexter Avenue Baptist Church - the Rosa Parks Museum (which is built on the corner where she was arrested) and Kelley Ingram Park in Birmingham, the site of brutal clashes between protestors and the police during the tumultuous early 1960’s. While there in Alabama, the team also competed in the Great American Cross Country Festival, a great meet that brought teams from across13 states to the same field of competition. In the end, it was a trip of a lifetime, indeed, a Great American, cross country trip.

So the season of 2007 was, in the end, one of the best seasons King XC has ever produced. The campaign was full of amazing accomplishments and growth, populated by great athletes and kids, and thus the teams stretched and pushed and learned and by the close, saw competition and community in a whole new light.