West Side Story: What was a meet that stood out to you?

Moustafa Tiea ‘25: The Super Meet and the Eastern Iowa meet. Before that, I felt like I was just a runner and then after those meets, I felt part of the varsity running group.

WSS: When were you proudest of yourself?

MT: I took down the sophomore record for the 5k. It’s 15:34 [now].

WSS: When were you the proudest of the team?

MT: The state-qualifying meet. Even though we didn’t qualify for state, everyone tried their best and gave it their all.

WSS: What was your favorite moment from practice?

MT: A week before state, we broke a melon on the ground because last year I was a newbie and I ended up breaking a watermelon on Alex Mckane’s head. In remembrance of that, we broke a melon on the ground.

West Side Story: What was a meet that stood out to you?

Michael Lee ’24: The meet that stood out to me the most was at Pella … There were delays, there was awful rainy weather and when they decided to race they combined all the boy’s races into one big mosh pit, racing it was so chaotic … I had a great time there and I think it was fun for the entire team.

WSS: When were you proudest of yourself?

ML: When I first broke 17, so basically last year it was really fun because I had improved by a lot, but this year I hadn’t improved as much. My times kind of got to a standstill, so when I finally broke the 17-minute barrier I just felt so great.

WSS: When were you the proudest of the team?

ML: I’m proudest of the team after we finish the hardest workouts. I remember this one workout called the Michigan … you do a mile time trial and then a road mile, 1200, road mile, 800, road mile, and then a 400 and a road mile … I was doing it with a bunch of other people from the team. In fact, there were a bunch of freshmen that were doing it with us, and the fact that they were able to hang in there for the entire thing gave me the motivation to do it.

WSS: What was your favorite moment from practice?

ML: After we practiced, we’d all stand around the tree and just talk. Those were really fun for me because team bonding … I’m sure all the freshmen know way too much about me, more than they would like to.