Thanks to a third-place finish at the Central Coast Section meet, the girls qualified as a team. The Cougars will run their race at 12:50 p.m. That will be the ninth of 10 races run at the venerable course, located a few miles north of downtown Fresno.
Although Half Moon Bay's boys were unable to qualify as a team, senior Tony Aguilar finished 10th and qualified to run the race as an individual. His race starts at 11:15 a.m.
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The Cougars, who believed that they could have contended with San Lorenzo Valley for a section title if they were healthy, finished a disappointing third. Three members of the team suffering from the flu didn't help the cause.
But now, a few weeks after the meet, those sick Cougars are returning to health.
"We are all healthy and excited," Aly Millett said. "I am starting to build up my endurance. I broke a time in practice from a week earlier by a minute."
Millett was the first person to get hit by the flu. She was forced to miss the Peninsula Athletic League championships on Nov. 6.
Nine days later, while she was on the road to recovery, two other runners - Abby Herhold and Katherine Fulp-Allen - became ill.
That made for a tough day at the CCS meet.
But the CCS meet and illnesses are now behind the Cougars as they look ahead to the state meet.
In preparing for that meet, some of the Cougars who ran at last year's meet are recalling the meet's atmosphere.
"I was impressed with the number of runners on the course the day before the meet," Liza Hitchner said. "We were all nervous and excited to be there."
That will be the same case this year as Hitchner, Fulp-Allen, Millett and Jezabel Ortiz have experience running in the state meet.
For Herhold, Allison Hughey and Ashley Kirmayer, this will be their first experience running in the state meet.
But the Cougars will go there with a purpose.
"We have something to prove," Millett said. "CCS was not our best performance. The state meet is our last chance to prove ourselves."
For Aguilar, the state meet will be his last one as a member of the Half Moon Bay cross country team. Saturday will be the third time he has run in the state meet. This will be the first time he will be the only person from Half Moon Bay to run in the meet.
"It will feel awkward," Aguilar said. "I will line up in a box with guys from other teams. We won't be running as a group."
The disappointment he felt at the end of the CCS meet has subsided. He still trains with teammate Dan Grech, as well as coach Kevin Ostenberg.
Now he is eager to run Saturday.
"This will be my last (high school) race," Aguilar said. "I hope to run faster than I did last year. I also hope to finish in the top 30.
"I'm going to try my best. We'll see what happens."
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