On September 14, 2022, cross country runner Devin Price broke the seventeen minute mark at the Tracy Invitational race in Golden Gate Park, setting a brand new record for our San Domenico cross country team’s 5K.

Price, a sophomore at San Domenico, finished the race with the time 16:51.3, beating his previous score from his freshman year. If that wasn’t impressive enough, he was the only lowerclassman among the top ten runners of the race.

“He basically got his goal for the end of the season at our second race,” Mary Churchill Varsity Cross Country Head Coach said.

The race was competitive. Coach Mary Churchill emphasized that the league has really strong teams. Leading schools have runners that could potentially beat a lot of higher division athletes. Price wasn’t intimidated by it at any moment of the race and remained aggressive and confident right from the start.

“A piece of me knew he was really going after it,” Mary Churchill said. Price is an athlete who always has a plan for his races and is assured of his own potential. Price himself claimed that the timing was really good as he was coming through the finish line and that was when he knew the result would be satisfying. He pays a great deal of attention to statistics.

“He’s a student of sport,” Mary Churchill said. Price is a runner who knows his competitors through and through. He studies not just the athletic history of his competition but also the top runners in the state and country. He claims that it’s really useful as motivation and inspiration for his own progression.

The coaches appreciate and admire Price’s engagement and commitment to what he does. They emphasized that Price always comes to training with a detailed plan.

“He just loves the sport and that’s what a long distance runner needs,” Mark Churchill, the Athletics Director of San Domenico and Varsity Cross Country Coach said.

When asked to give one piece of advice for how to become a more proficient runner, Price pointed out consistency. “It always pays off,” Price said.  He claims that hard work can override talent.

Watching his work, progression and ambition, coaches can tell that he has a bright, athletic future ahead. Devin’s plans for this season is to  qualify for the NCS meet and from there, make it to the State Meet.

“It would be the first time San Domenico had a runner who made it to the StateMeet,” Mary Churchill said. She confirmed that it’s an achievable goal. Price has ambitious goals for both him and his team for this season.

“I want to individually qualify, and hopefully doing that will help the team qualify,” Price said.

Devin strongly connects his future with running and wants to be a Division I athlete. “He’s very motivated so I think that as long as he wants to run, he’s going to be able to run at a high level,” Mark Churchill said.

Both Mary and Mark Churchill believe that it’s just the beginning for the young runner.

“He’s only a sophomore so the times that he’s running now are setting him up to be able to run on a Division I college team,” Mary Churchill added.

The San Domenico cross country team officially started the season on Wednesday, September 28th at the BCL Regional Race. Mark Churchill strongly encourages everyone to support the team.

“Just going to the races, cheering them on and having a whole group of people out there would be awesome,” Mark Churchill said. It’s an easy way to contribute to our community and support our talented athletes. We encourage everyone to come and watch upcoming races.