Boys Cross Country this year has had its ups and its downs. With them winning their first meet, things are looking up for them. Junior foreign exchange student Fabio Nihalani has become a very promising newcomer to Cross Country this season, with him improving greatly.

Fabio Nihalani is from Frankfurt, Germany. He decided to join Cross Country because he ran in track back in Germany and wanted to be part of a team at East. So far, Fabio has been an beneficial addition to the team.

“I was running track in Germany and really liked running and I wanted to be part of a high school team,” Nihalani said.

At the beginning of the season Nihalani had a much slower mile time. And as the season went on, he got faster showing his improvement. During his first meet, Nihalani felt like he ran slow. Now in his latest meet he sees how much faster he can now run after practicing and going to other meets.

“He’s worked really hard and his time has dropped and he has even run a couple of varsity races for us,” Coach Ryan Burke said.

While running for Cross Country, Nihalanihas made new friends he normally would not be friends with. By putting himself out there, he made new friends and learned a brand new sport in the process.

“I really think there are some really nice runners, and I think I have made a lot of friends on the cross country team,” Nihalani said.

Even though Nihalai has improved so much, he thinks there is still room for improvement, and that his time to drop even more. Because this is his first year in Cross Country, he still can improve a lot more by getting his time even smaller and learning more about cross country.

“It is my first year in Cross Country, so there are still so many ways I can improve because I do not know everything about the sport yet, but I hope to get better and learn more about it,” Nihalani said.