Sierra Canyon's Baxter Makes Quite a Run at Cross Country Championships

Cross Country can be a lonely sport.  Just ask Brandon Baxter, who ran as the only member of the Sierra Canyon High squad at the CIF Division Finals at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday, but he was fast enough to advance to the State Finals next week in Fresno.

"There's a lot more pressure running like this," Baxter said.  "Most everyone else here has a team to run with. When you run as an individual, you are your own team.  There's no one else to carry you."

Baxter was the only member of the Sierra Canyon team to qualify.

"He's an incredible kid," coach Troy Samuels said.

Weather was also a factor for every runner at the 3.5 mile event, as a steady rain didn't let up during the entire competition.  The rain forced judges to take races off the normal course on dirt to the "rain course" which had competitors running on pavement.  Besides the surface, the course was much more flat than what competitors were expecting.  Teams and individuals were only notified by judges of the change the night before.

"I'm from Jersey, where it's always wet," said Baxter.  "So this was like coming back home."

Baxter has only been living in California for about four months, moving with his mother from New Jersey when she landed a new job. 

"The experience has really been great," said Baxter of his transition from East to West Coast.  "The people here are really welcoming.  Sierra Canyon is a small school, so it has a great family feel to it."

Said Samuels: "I remember talking to Brandon's mother the first time, and she told me her son was a runner.  I thought this kid was coming from a school of like 77 runners and he was No. 76.  Now I look at him and am just amazed."

Baxter was in the most contested race of the day.  As he raced by the stands at Mt. SAC, the pack he was in numbered about 20. 

"There was water everywhere and a lot of pushing and shoving," he said. 

However, around mile No. 2, the pack began to thin and Baxter would eventually finish in seventh place with a time of 16:54 in the Division V race.

Samuels lauds Baxter's work ethic in spite of the runner having a recent stomach virus: "He literally finished the prelims and doubled over." 

Baxter was forced to lay back for a few days, but then re-started his training with an eye toward this event. 

"He's that much of a competitor and it's exciting to coach a kid like that," Samuels said.