Keith Stone co-editor-in-chief
The boys varsity cross-country team has been incredibly successful within the last year, winning league undefeated last year, and could possibly be on its way to winning league this year. Two brothers, Jason and Johnny Cohen, contributed to the team’s success.
Jason and Johnny are both seniors and have been on the team since their freshman year. Jason’s fastest three-mile time is 15:37, but he plans to improve it as well as improve his current two-mile time of 9:52 and his one-mile time of 4:35.
“I would say my best event is the three-mile because I am still going to improve a lot and I am just better at running long distances faster. You need to be able to run fast and consistent for the three miles and I feel that in that area I work the best,” Jason said.
While many people across the nation strive to improve their times and win races, the Cohen brothers and the rest of the varsity team work to better their endurance and their times.
“My training for cross-country started two weeks after my track season ended at CIF Prelims,” Johnny said. “Me and the other varsity guys trained over summer every day, running nine miles a day, 10 on Thursday and 12 on Saturday. When school started, we continued the same mileage but added in workouts on the track twice a week. The day before a race we go for an easy four-to-five-mile run to let our bodies rest.”
Johnny ran a personal best for the three-mile race, clocking in at 15:13.2 at the Great Cow Run meet. His personal record for the mile is 4:26 and for the two-mile it is 9:49. With such fast times, both he and his brother hope to run after high school.
“I plan on running in college, but I’m not sure where yet. I would like to run for USC or UC Berkeley, but I have not talked to their coaches yet,” Johnny said.
Jason also wants to “get into a good school through running and continue running on the team for college. I find competing to actually be fun and it would only get much more competitive in college when I would have to run against the other top runners from the schools,” Jason said.
Even though the Cohens are twins and share the same genes, it is unlikely that they inherited their running talents from their parents and more likely that their skill came from hard work.
“[Our] parents did not run. Me and my brother started off slow freshman year at our first race. I ran a 20:05 for my first three mile race ever. I think the reason we got so fast is because of the work we put in. We just stayed focused and trained hard every day, and now that training has finally paid off,” Johnny said.
Despite their differences, running together has been a good experience for both of them.
“I feel grateful to be able to run with [Johnny] every day. We are so close since we spend a lot of time trying to achieve the same goals in running. He always encourages me to push harder when he runs a really great time,” Jason said. “We always support each other and motivate each other to be the fastest runners against anybody we race.”