Tim McNally is hoping his experience in running can translate to a strong cross country team for Los Banos High.</p><p>This will be McNally's first season coaching cross country -- though he has coached other sports -- and he inherits a team that placed fourth in the Central California Conference last season.</p><p>"Mark Ramirez did a real good job coaching them last year, so they have the fundamentals down," McNally said. "He's graduating from (Cal-State) Stanislaus, and he wanted to concentrate on that."</p><p>McNally said he wasn't quite sure what to think when the school's administration approached him about taking over the team.</p><p>"They came to me and I said, 'I've never coached cross country,' " he recalled. "And they said, 'You run, don't you?' "</p><p>Sure, he runs. He's participated in half-marathons as part of a team, and he's done trail runs. Cross country running is right up his alley.</p><p>"I don't like road races," he said. "I'd rather take my chances with the coyotes."</p><p>So when he throws on his running shoes and joins his new team on the trails near the school, he always leaves them in the dust, right?</p><p>"Not even close," McNally said with a laugh. "I can threaten them, but I can't beat them."</p><p>Like the rest of Los Banos High's sports teams, the cross country team finds itself in a brand new league -- the Western Athletic Conference -- and a lower division. None of that means this team will be resting on its laurels.</p><p>"I know schools like Central Catholic and Livingston traditionally do very well, so we will have to step it up," McNally said.</p><p>Added girls team captain Ximena Alvarado, "Most of us train harder during the summer. Most of it's alone, because you have to have the drive."</p><p>The boys team captain, senior Daniel Vargas, didn't run competitively before his sophomore year, when he joined the team on a whim.</p><p>"I joined just because, and everyone was so fast," Vargas said. "Now it's crazy how I'm fast. With guys like Sandoval, I was amazed they were so quick. I never thought I would be faster than them."</p><p>This is something McNally sees as a strong point.</p><p>"I hated running when I was young. I played baseball to get out of running," McNally said. "Danny, he loves it, and he's not going to have that burn-out factor."</p><p>The team will race against itself Sept. 4, an opportunity to break in a new course near the detention dam.</p><p>"This one's just between us, to set the course records," Vargas said. "Everyone's competitive about it."</p><p>With help from athletic director Joe Barcellos, a runner who helps out sometimes, and even mayor Tommy Jones, who McNally said was a sprinter in college and helps the runners out with their speed work from time to time, McNally sees a bright future for his new team.</p><p>"I'm expecting great things," McNally said. "The guys are going to surprise people, and the girls, they just keep getting better and better."</p><p>Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at sports@losbanosenterprise.com