David Bernauer is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Shadow Ridge High School for AZPreps365.com.

On Oct. 16 at the Casteel Invitational, Shadow Ridge junior runner Kaden Passey finished the 5,000 meter run with a time of 16:04.3. The time set a school record, breaking the old mark by almost eight seconds, and breaking Passey's personal best by about 12 seconds.

“The Casteel meet had a very fast course, I loved it,'' Passey said. "Flat course, and some very fast people to chase. It was a very good day.”

This was an affirmation of all the hard work the Stallions have put in as they look to reach their goals.

Entering the cross country season, coach Arrick Nietert said the team was looking to finish Top 10 in the state, and if things broke its way, the Top 5. The Stallions embraced “running to the edge,” a term used by them to describe running hard at a pace you can hold; being uncomfortable and being comfortable with it. So far, it has paid dividends.

“This year we have some new workouts, which have been improving our times a lot,” senior Haden Pittson said. “Our push runs during the summer have ingrained in us the mentality to push beyond our comfort zone at all points in the races.”

The hard work has seen their practice times increase, which has translated to faster race times.

“We’ve been pretty consistent with who we’ve been beating,” Passey said. “We win meets that other top five schools aren’t at, and when other fast schools are there, we place accordingly, which puts us fifth or sixth in the state.”

This included an impressive showing at the Titan Invite, where Shadow Ridge finished first. As far as the individual runners went, Passey finished first, junior Erik Winter finished third, Pittson finished fifth and junior Elijah Levin placed seventh. Between the boys and girls teams, Shadow Ridge brought home more than 30 medals from the invitational.

“The effort in the heat was unmatched,'' Nietert said. "Mental toughness prevailed."

Added Pittson: “I broke 17 [minutes] for the first time and ran 16:45. This was a big confidence booster  and proved to me that my hard work was paying off.”

Shadow Ridge also had success at the Casteel Invitational. Sixteen boys set personal records, and Passey set the aforementioned 5,000 meter school record.

As the team approaches the end of the season, the boys are getting ready for districts on Oct. 21 at Asante Park in Surprise before focusing on sectionals and state. Though the races are important, the practices are of equal magnitude.

“A lot of our work is done at practice; we have to have great workouts to give us an edge at race day,” Pittson said. “The speed workouts have personally given me a stronger kick at the end of the race.”

It will all come down to how much Shadow Ridge can continue to increase its impressive speed over the next few weeks.

“We’ve started to lower the distance and increase the speed of our workouts, to start tapering as we get closer to sectionals and state,” Passey said.