CHS to host 52nd Annual Swarm Cross Country Invitational, 28 schools participating

On Saturday, September 4, 2021, Colton High School’s (CHS) Cross Country Team will host the 52nd Annual Swarm Cross Country Invitational for 28 schools and over 600 student athletes.

A long-standing tradition for the CHS Cross Country Team, this year’s event is being organized by volunteer Coach Mateo Cisneros, a 2020 graduate of CHS.

“The very first Swarm was held on September 24, 1974, at the Riverside Raceway,” said Cisneros. “CHS was undergoing some renovations, so it started off-campus; and there have only been two times the Swarm was not held: the first time in 2018, when the stadium was being upgraded, then again in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.”

This year the three-mile cross country race will wind around the CHS campus, through the football field, the baseball field, and the perimeter over the Rancho Street pedestrian bridge to the sidewalk all the way around the school and back. While the CHS Swarm Invitational isn’t part of the runners’ official schedule for the year, it is an opportunity for them to work at improving their running times, building friendships with the hundreds of other athletes from other schools, and just have fun.

The CHS Cross Country Team is led by Head Coach Frank Ibarra, Jr., with approximately 25 freshmen to senior runners. There are no tryouts for cross country, and there are no limits on the number of spots open on the team. All that is encouraged for membership is a good attitude and to be motivated to be out there running with their fellow cross-country athletes.

The Swarm Invitational is being supported by the CHS ASB, Link Crew, Varsity Football, Girls’ Basketball, and the Girls’ Soccer teams. The members of those groups will be serving in many different capacities, including being all around the course to ensure runners are heading in the right direction, conduct medical set-ups, event clean up, and handing out medals at the end of the race.

There is no charge to come to the CHS Swarm Invitational and Coach Cisneros wanted to encourage all of Colton’s supporters to come and cheer the team on.

“There will be lots of schools there, along with Grand Terrace, Bloomington (home-town rivals) as well as schools from as far away as Ridgecrest,” he said, “It would be great to have a big Colton crowd giving our team support.”

You can check out more information and find contact information for this event at: https://sites.google.com/view/coltonswarm2021 .