Be a good citizen. That’s the message Scottsdale Prep tells its students and that’s exactly what came to coach Justin Lane’s mind this weekend.

After a night full of personal records at the Desert Twilight Festival, the team dinner at In-N-Out quickly became a personal achievement for the team. The team’s orderly behavior received commendation from a former mayor of Casa Grande, who reached out to Lane.

“For me, that was the proudest moment of the whole year.”

Lane is also proud of his freshmen. Four are on the nine-member team and three are Scottsdale Prep’s top runners.

Jay Robertson already shattered his goal of running under 20 minutes after racing 19:48.5 and finishing 13th out of 134 freshmen.

“When we do harder workouts, he’s never one to tap out or complain,” Lane said. “He’ll come to me on Friday afternoons and say, ‘Hey, should I run this weekend?’ I think he wants to continue to improve.”

Robertson ran in middle school and wanted to continue. This seems to be the right year, according to sophomore Filippo Simmons.

Simmons said they couldn’t perform well last year with only three runners on the team. They also dealt with lack of communication with last year’s coaches.

“It was really hard because they were never there,” he said of the coaches. “Never told us when we [had practice] and if they did, they would never show up.”

Lane communicates well with them this year and gets the runners physically ready. The freshmen have gained speed since joining and first-year runner Taro Yokoyama even lost seven pounds. The focus for Lane is getting them mentally ready.

Their motivation in practice starts with the girls. The girls look to qualify in state again.

Freshman Ryan Sherman said, “It kind of pushes you to go harder.”

While the boys chances of qualifying for state as a team are uncertain, they can compete individually.

Their focus now is not losing momentum and saving their best race for last.

Once the season ends, the recruitment for next year begins. There are eighth graders interested in the program.

Robertson said, “I think as the years go on, as the freshman become juniors and seniors, I think the team will be bigger.”