Even in a sport as individual as cross country, it pays to have good teammates. Just ask Robbie Baker and Alex Garcia.
The two Ridgeview standouts were rarely challenged by the rest of the competition this past season.
But the duo, which finished more than 20 seconds apart just once all year, didn’t let that deter them from pushing each other to get better every week.
In the process, they combined to win 14 times while leading the Wolf Pack to a second straight Southwest Yosemite League title and a runner-up finish at the Central Section Division III meet, advancing the team to state for the first time in school history.
Throw in the two school records each runner broke this season, and it’s clear to see why Baker and Garcia are The Californian All Area Co-Runners of the Year.
“Both of them going into this season were really focused because it was their senior year, and they really wanted it to be special,” Ridgeview coach Adam Setser said.
The close friends also shared a dogged determination not to be out-done by the other, which led to several epic battles among their dozen 1-2 finishes.
“For the first two and half miles, we were always right next to each other,” Baker said. “It pretty much came down to who had the best kick that day. You want to be the best, but your teammate is always there and he wants to be the best too.”
Ten times Baker not only bested Garcia but also the rest of the field. His early-season win at the Jim White McFarland Invitational helped the Wolf Pack hand the host Cougars a rare loss.
Two weeks later, Baker posted a time of 14:55 to win a dual meet against Frontier and in the process set a new Ridgeview school record for three miles.
Setser believes much of Baker’s success is due to his strong work ethic.
“As far as Robbie goes, he always, at least for the past couple of years, (has) been real dedicated and (a) real hard worker,” Setser said. “He does a lot of running in the offseason: Lifting weights, push-ups, sit-ups and that kind of stuff on his own. He’s just real determined.”
Garcia , while not quite as prolific at racking up victories, had a better postseason than Baker and seemed to have a knack for performing his best when it counted the most.
One week before Ridgeview‘s first league dual meet of the season, Garcia bested a deep and talented field of runners to win the Wolf Pack Invitational.
In early November, he broke a school record for 5 kilometers (15:20) en route to winning the SWYL championship for a second straight year.
He followed that by finishing third, one spot ahead of Baker, at the Central Section race. A week later at the state meet, Garcia finished 36th and Baker was 42nd.
“By the end of the season when the big meets come, Alex seems to rise to the occasion,” Setser said. “That’s something you can’t really coach. He just kind of has a knack for doing well at the big meets.”
Despite their rivalry, Baker and Garcia, along with several of their teammates, still hang out with each other every day at lunch and after school.
“We were never mad at each other because of who won, but we both wanted it,” Garcia said. “We used each other to push ourselves to the limit and get better while winning. I was glad to have a good runner like that as a teammate.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Baker.
“If I didn’t have a teammate like that there to push me, I feel like I would have peaked a little bit earlier,” he said. “He helped me to get better. But I pushed him also.”