As part of the sports program, El Roble offers several sports throughout the school year to its students, such as basketball, volleyball, and football, to encourage students who are interested in participating in athletics. Recently, the school has made the addition of cross country to its sports program. This is the first year that the new team is competing as a fall sport.

Cross country was preceded by El Roble’s Track and Field team, which was formed mostly in part by Jonathan Eagleton, who works in the computer lab at El Roble and is currently the head coach for both Track and Field and Cross Country teams. Eagleton ran both track and field and cross country during his high school years and throughout most of his life, so he was eager to help start both teams when the administration approved the idea. The teams compete with other middle
schools in the East San Gabriel Valley League, such as Lone Hill in Bonita and Las Palmas in Covina.

“I remember competing against El Roble in track as a kid, but they would just put together a few kids and we’d go over. They never really had a track team,” Eagleton said.

About a year ago, Eagleton was on a committee consisting of principal Scott Martinez and several parents, who were discussing adding track and field, cross country, and soccer to El Roble’s sports program for the students who did not make football, volleyball, or basketball but had other interests. Track and field was the first to be included and served as a test to see how adding new sports to the program would go. After the success of last year’s track season, cross country was next on the list, and if all goes well then soccer will follow.

“[Getting the cross country team started] was kind of a word of mouth [situation] from last year’s track,” Eagleton said. “We put a lot in advertising to create the track program, so I just said ‘if anyone would like to come next year for the cross country program, come on out and tell all your friends.’”

The team has already done well, as both boys and girls teams ended up winning the league championships. Their first meet was at Royal Oak in Charter Oak, and both boys and girls teams topped in first place. They have since only continued to do well at the five meets following their first. As opposed to high school cross country, where the runners run three miles during their competitions, middle school leagues only run two miles. Nevertheless, as soon as they reach CHS, they will be prepared and know what to expect if they wish to try out for CHS’s team.

“I think introducing the students at El Roble to the sport of cross country can only benefit the cross country team at Claremont High School,” Physical Education teacher and head of El Roble’s Athletics Department Chris Molloy said. “Coach Eagleton and his staff did an amazing job with our students. I’m really looking forward to watching our kids grow with the program at CHS.”

Along with cross country, track will also be held again this year, and soccer might be added next year. El Roble is very proud of the sports program, and they hope to expand the program to offer sports that will fit every student’s athletic interests. By adding cross country to the list, they are taking another step to achieve that goal.