While Sedona Red Rock High School senior Krushi Bhakta said running cross country in her sophomore year wasn’t quite what she hoped for, after taking her junior year off from the sport she gave it another run for her senior year.
In fall 2019, Bhakta ended up being part of a girls team that — despite being relatively low in experience — qualified for the state meet at season’s end. It was an experience that Bhakta would have missed out on had friends like senior Ariana Parra-Landaverde not convinced her to give cross country another try.
“Ariana is kind of half the reason that I did cross country and the reason that I ended up liking it,” Bhakta recalled. “I joined again because of friends and realized it could be different and it was my best.”
Bhakta also credited first-year coach Ben Scamihorn “for always pushing us to do our best, wanting the best for us and being a good coach.”
Since Bhakta was hesitant to take up cross country again, she recalled asking a lot of questions and even complaining a lot at the start of the season. But as the season progressed, those complaints quieted.
As a senior on the trails, her best time was a 24:01 in the 5K. But the reason that Bhakta enjoyed cross country this year was more than just her and her team’s successes.
“For cross country, the best experiences were a lot of the practices and meets,” she said. “The bus rides were always the best. Running all the meets and races were fun.”
In addition to her time in cross country, Bhakta also ran track for the Scorpions for four years. While Bhakta said that the 400 meters was her favorite event, she noted that her best event was the 800 meter run, where she logged a career best time of 2:56. Looking back on her time running track, Bhakta was thankful for coach Harry Schneider and the consistently constructive feedback that he offered.
For Bhakta and the rest of the Class of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic gave the end of high school a different feel. Still, Bhakta said that because of past experiences, the transitions that students had to make weren’t as challenging for her.
“I don’t think it was too hard,” she said. “Over the summer I did online classes so it was similar to that. I already spent a lot of time with my family.”
With high school now complete, Bhakta will shift her attention to college. In the fall, she’ll attend the University of Arizona and study business.
Looking back, Bhakta said she was impressed with how well her and her fellow seniors dealt with the shutdown and didn’t use it as an excuse to get lazy with schoolwork at the end of their time in high school.
“I think our class was adaptive and hard working,” Bhakta added. “A lot of people could have dropped classes or not done it because there was nobody motivating them. We still continued to get A’s and stuff.”
