On the run in fall and spring

“I went into Cross-Country to get the experience of playing a sport that I hoped I would come to enjoy and love,” said Kairi Soungpanya Saechao. “I first joined Cross-Country in seventh grade at Crystal Middle School and I’ve been running ever since.”

As an early runner, she attended a few championship meets that all schools in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District were welcome to and, while she’s never broken any school records, she has accomplished some personal PR’s.

Running Cross-Country is a sport that she has grown to love and she now participates in track as well, where she is a distance runner. “I currently only see Cross-Country being a hobby for me, but I haven’t planned any further.”

One area that she has been challenged over the last year is in the disruption of the season due to COVID. “I’d say that COVID hit our season very harshly,” she said. “There were so many drastic changes in the season that gave us no choice but to adapt as best as we could. When our season started during Distance Learning [last spring], our team was required to split up into two groups and were only allowed to run with the people in the group you were in. I was unable to meet my other coach and half of my teammates… until the end of our season.”

The team was even smaller than in previous years because of the reluctance of some student athletes to participate during the height of the pandemic. The challenges are there every year, though, and she said that she would encourage anyone interested in sports to “put yourself out there and give a chance for new experiences. Plus, you could make good friendships and memories out of it!”

“My most memorable game would probably be the middle school championship games that took place at Armijo during my seventh grade year in track and field,” she said. “It was such a different experience from other meets… and I remember really enjoying running my races and cheering all my teammates. That day was just filled with positivity and sportsmanship from one another.”

Running long distances is only one of Soungpanya Saechao’s interests. She is also active in Leadership and has been a contributing writer to The Armijo Signal. “One thing I’d change at Armijo would be the advertisements with clubs around the school,” she said. “There are many extra-curricular activities that I’ve seen that sound and look so exciting, but [they] don’t get the advertisement that the club needs and deserves in order to get more members.” As a sophomore, she still has a lot of time to get involved in other opportunities in high school, but she is already considering what to do in the future.

“Once I graduate, I plan on attending a community college, then transferring to a university. I haven’t really thought too much about my career, but am interested in Veterinary career paths,” she said. Her family has always provided a positive influence and set great examples for her, and that has influenced her focus.