Running club president, senior Andrew Scardina, was the overall winner. (Photo courtesy of @lafrunningclub on Instagram)

Last weekend, the running club had about 10 people compete in a 5K race in New Jersey called March Fourth, which raises money and awareness for colon cancer. The men and women raced together, with senior Andrew Scardina coming in first overall and freshman Megan Dursema finishing as the first woman.

“It was a pretty big success,” Scardina said.

This was the first time the club attended this particular race. Scardina said that they found out about it on Race Finder, an app the club often uses to plan races.

“The March Fourth race was really fun and low-stress, so it made it easy for me to enjoy the race,” Dursema wrote in an email. “It was an awesome feeling coming in first for the women’s race, as it was also my second local 5k win this school year.”

Typically, the club meets at Farinon after class and runs for about 45 minutes a day.

“We’re just a group of people that likes to get out and run every day,” Scardina said. “It’s nice and casual. People just kind of come out and do whatever they want and just have fun with it.”

Each day, the club tries to do a different run.

“Today, we went down to the canal and we ran the trail over there,” Scardina said. “Usually we’ll run together, but sometimes if we go to a trail, we’ll just run out for like ten minutes on our own and then turn around and meet at the same place.”

Scardina said that the club is a mix of both experienced and non-experienced runners. Each semester, the club attends three to four races and also gets together for team dinners.

“I ran cross country and track all four years of high school and decided against running at the collegiate level, but I promised myself and my high school coaches that I would continue just for fun,” Dursema wrote. “I love how low pressure and low commitment the club is, along with how amazing and supportive all of the members are. I’ve made so many new friends through the running club and it has made practices something I look forward to every week!”

Currently, Scardina is the president, sophomore Harvest Gil is vice president, senior Anna Kunz is the secretary, sophomore Ethan Junk is treasurer and classmate Steven Alvarez is the club’s captain and safety officer.

The team does not have an upcoming race scheduled but plans to continue spending weekends running together and getting breakfast afterward.