Player Profile: Laura Vazquez

Laura Vazquez is currently a Presentation senior who runs for both the cross-country and track team; she has been a member of both teams since her sophomore year. She is looking forward to her final season and is hoping to continue running in college.

The Voice: How did you become interested in running?

LV: I became interested in running my freshman year—I wanted to try something new.

The Voice: How much do you run during practice?

LV: Our mileage changes depending on when we race. On average, we usually run six to seven miles a day. When we do not have a race we can run up to nine miles a day, however, when we have a race coming up we usually cut down our mileage to about three miles the day before.

The Voice: You are a member of both cross-country and track. Do you prefer one to the other?

LV: I don’t; I really like both of the sports. I like cross country because of the time of season and the hills, but I also like track because we have more races.

The Voice: How do you prepare for the cross-country season?

LV: I build my base mileage over the summer. This helps me recover from the track season and transition into cross country.

The Voice: What’s the fastest time you’ve run in your event?

LV: The fastest time I ran for three miles was an 18:10 just recently this season!

The Voice: What is your most memorable running experience?

LV: I have had many memorable experiences with my team, but I think the team trip to the Clovis Invitational last year was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it this year. Another memorable experience was when my team placed first at the Lowell Invitational. I was really happy and it was nice to see everyone else excited too.

The Voice: How do you balance schoolwork and sports?

LV: By trying to complete the assignments on the day they were given. However, I also try to catch up on a lot of my school work when we have morning practice because then I have the whole afternoon to catch up. I also do a lot of work over the weekends.

The Voice: How has running affected you as a person?

LV: Running always makes me feel better. When I am having a bad day, running always makes me feel good.

The Voice: Do you have any advice for someone who might be considering joining cross-country or track and field?

LV: My advice for anyone that is interested in running is that you should try it! You don’t have to already be running; when I began my freshman year I had never run before and ended up enjoying it a lot. The team is very supportive and the sport is so much fun!

The Voice: Do you plan on running in college?

LV: Yes, I plan to run in college. I have sent out athletic resumes and letters to the colleges that I’m interested in. I’ve gotten a few calls from some of the coaches and have been staying in contact through email by sending them updates about my season.

Player Profile: Angie Korpusik

The Voice had the great opportunity to talk with Angie Korpusik, a senior at Presentation and a super star athlete. She is on the Varsity team in both cross country and track and field. Angie has competed in a number of local competitions as well as extremely competitive races at WCAL and CCS.

Voice: How did you become interested in running?AK: My sister did running, and I really liked doing sports in general so I decided to try out for the track team in middle school.

Voice: How much do you run during practice?AK: Last week we did around 30 miles. We are developing our base right now so the mileage will decrease later on. But we run around five miles a day.

Voice: What/where is your favorite practice run?AK: My favorite run is at Quicksilver Park and it is called “Crazy Kate” because it’s nine miles. I like it a lot because it is a lot of uphill and downhill.

Voice: When did you make it to the Varsity team? What did it take?AK: Sophomore year when I went out for cross country and I got into varsity. Training over the summer and doing track in freshman year helped prepare me for varsity.

Voice: What are some of your most proud achievements in running?AK: Besides breaking my two-mile time, another race that I am especially proud of was the cross country CCS finals at Toro Park my sophomore year. This was a tough race due to the course’s several steep hills, but I was able to place 16th.

Voice: You are a member of both cross country and track, so do you prefer one over the other?AK: Cross country. I like running on hills, forests, wilderness, and nice scenery.

Voice: Who’s your running mentor?AK: [Coach] Cozort. He encouraged me to try out for cross country and he is really positive overall, and if we get really tired, he will start singing or joking around.

Voice: What is your most memorable running experience?AK: My most memorable running experience was last year’s WCAL track two-mile. I was really excited to beat my previous time by more than 20 seconds in order to finish with a time of 11:34. It enabled me to compete in the CCS meet and place 14th in the trials.

Voice: How has running affected you as a person?AK: It has helped me to stay healthy by keeping me fit and motivating me to eat nutritious food and to get adequate sleep every night.

Training with the other Pres distance runners has also shown me the importance of working with other teammates so that I not only meet my personal goals, but also help my team to improve as a whole in order to reach our collective aspirations. Running also makes me happy in general since I love running on hills in the forest and working hard. After all, hard training helps to increase my endorphin levels, making me even happier!

Player Profile: Tori Tsolis

Tori Tsolis has been running miles and miles with times shorter than anyone in the school. The Voice Newspaper caught up with this star athlete for a quick questionnare:

Voice: How long have you been doing cross country?

Tori Tsolis: This is my second year doing cross country. I started on varsity last season because I ran track freshman year.

Voice: What influenced you to join cross country?

Tori: Mr. Cozort told me that I would not do well in track if I did not do cross country and it sounded fun.

Voice: How do you balance school work and sports?

Tori: It starts getting really hard because I get home late from practices. But it definitely helps me organize my time better.

Voice: What are the responsibilities of being team captain?

Tori: Pretty much just keeping everyone together, staying positive, and being supportive of everyone. I also made a poster for one of the meets which was fun to do.

Voice: Where are the meets held?

Tori: The meets are all over. The first one is in San Francisco, the second one is in Mountain View and the third one is in Crystal Springs at San Mateo.

Voice: How often do you practice and where do you run?

Tori: We practice six times a week at Los Gatos High School and in the Quick Silver Hills. Twice a week we also run at Pres at six in the morning. It’s tough but I like it.

Voice: Do you like track or cross country more?

Tori: I definitely like track a lot more because it is less running. It is more natural to me than running the long distances.

Voice: How do you consider cross country a team sport?

Tori: I consider it a team sport because it takes five people to score. Everyone has to work together to beat certain people. You want to get the lowest score so you can win.

Voice: Have you ever been injured and how did you recover from it?

Tori: Yes, I have a reoccurring hip problem and my knee is actually injured right now. I go to the physical therapist and get deep tissue massages from Julia here at Pres. Hopefully my knee will get better soon.

Voice: Have you ever seen any wildlife when you were running?

Tori: Actually I have. I’ve seen a big snake, a very hairy tarantula, and a super cool peacock while running in Los Gatos.

Voice: How has cross country helped you grow as a person?

Tori: Cross country has helped me become a team player because track is more individual. It also has definitely helped me manage my time. I learned how to be a better leader and how to stay positive.