GRANITE CITY - Carlos Ruvalcaba, a senior for Roxana's boys cross country team, has become one of the area's top runners, and on Saturday at the Granite City Invitational at Wilson Park, he had another stellar performance on the day, running the three-mile course in 16:45.43 as the Shells came in 18th on the day with 422 points.
The Granite meet is the season's first major checkpoint meet, and Ruvalcaba felt that he had a good race, and felt confident going into the meet.
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"I think I did pretty well," Ruvalcaba said in a post race interview. "I was fairly confident in this race that I would do good, and I exceeded myself in what I thought I was going to do."
Ruvalcaba has gotten his 2020 campaign off to a good start, putting up very good times in the opening meets, and he felt that everything developed the way he had hoped this season, despite the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Yeah, it is," Ruvalcaba said. "I wasn't expecting to be too fast, because, like, COVID and everything. I missed my whole entire track season, so that really set me back a whole bunch."
The cancellation of the IHSA track season this past spring due to the pandemic indeed set many a runner back. And as everyone else in the sporting community in the state, Ruvalcaba feels very fortunate and blessed to even be running this fall.
"Yes I am," Ruvalcaba said. "We are all truly blessed to be having this season."
As far as a specific strategy for the race, Ruvalcaba doesn't really set one.
"I don't have a strategy," Ruvalcaba said with a laugh. "I'm always just hoping to run like this is my last race, because it could be."
And in a time where a season could suddenly be cancelled should COVID cases spike or any other unexpected disaster, Ruvalcaba plans to keep running like any meet could be the final one of the season. He also has set some other ambitious goals for the season as well.
"Well, I'm hoping to at least get down to the 15s by the end of the season,' Ruvalcaba said.
