Phoenix Country Day cross country runner Erik Dahl climbed up in rank this season after he made a drastic improvement and qualified for the state meet.

After placing in the top 50 runners at the Desert Twilight Invitational this season, Dahl knew he had to strive for improvement if he wanted to place high enough to gain a spot in the state meet. 

“There’s a mental component. You have to have the willingness to push yourself,” said Coach Tafur.

“Desert Twilight was a big deal,” Dahl said. “It was the first time I had ever broken 20 minutes. Every race I ran after that, it was my goal to break 20 minutes.”

Dahl finished the Desert Twilight meet with a time of 19:55.

In order to run at the state championship, Dahl needed to place in the the top 25 at qualifiers. Giving the race all he had, he managed to improve his time by a more than 30 seconds with a time of 19:19.

Dahl’s family was there and proud to cheer him on as they watched his achievement.

“Near the end of the race you want to start increasing your spot in the race by setting little goals to move up,” said Dahl, who attributes his ability to improve his ranking to knowing the importance of keeping a goal set mentality even during the run.

Dahl emphasized the importance of challenging yourself to pass opponents versus the actual speed you are running during a race.

“I knew this was probably gonna be my last race because I’m graduating," he said. "So I thought I might as well go all out even if it hurts me or I feel terrible.”

After qualifying, Dahl and teammate Claire Linos continued training for the state meet.

“You can’t get much better over a course of a week, so we were working on maintaining that same pace,”  Dahl said. “Going into it, I knew I was coming in at the back of the runner who qualified. So I knew I wasn’t gonna make it to the top. But what I could do was race against myself.”

Dahl is proud of his performance at state considering he was up against a lot of skilled runners. His improvement was the highlight of the season and Dahl considers it a great way to end his cross country career at Phoenix Country Day.

Along with his triumph, Dahl is now ecstatic to see where the program will go following his graduation.

Dahl initially founded the cross country team at Phoenix country day his sophomore year.

“I started running the summer before freshman year and it became something that I had to do, or else I wouldn’t feel right throughout the day,” he said.

He remembers his reasoning behind starting the program. “I was like ‘I kind of want to do this competitively’. So I got a bunch of people together and we went to the athletic department to start it.”

“It’s been my motivation because it’s the team that I created and I want to see it succeed,” he said. “I feel connected to the sport because I had a part in it.”

He began pushing for the program to be implemented at Phoenix Country Day School during his freshman year and finally saw it begin by the time he was a sophomore. Dahl explained how much commitment it took to get a good amount of runners together and go through the process of starting a sports program.

Grace Saltonstall, a senior on the team, has witnessed the team's growth.

“We’ve grown a lot since last year,” said Saltonstall. “We’ve got a good group of girls on the team now and everyone is nice.”

While he isn’t sure where life will take him as runner in college, Dahl hopes to leave an impression on the current team to keep them motivated.

“We’re trying to make the younger people feel welcomed on the team," he said. "We have a lot of freshman and you have to keep them motivated."

Dahl has also begun reaching out to the middle school students to encourage them to join the cross country team when they enter high school. According to Dahl, the inclusion of a track team will help to make sure the team continues to progress.

Through his passion for creating a successful team, Dahl has also experienced the impact cross country has had on his life.

“Running is a very mental sport. It requires a lot of discipline,” he said.

While being an athlete has taken a lot of sacrifice of time from Dahl, he feels the sport has given him the skill of perseverance and the ability to push through pain which he believes is important.