Faith, Film, and a Finish Line

Woodward Park in Clovis is a sacred space for cross-country runners in the state of California.  

It’s the site of the CIF state championship every year. After a ninth-place finish in 2023, Oaks Christian cross-country Coach Wes Smith mentioned how he’d appreciate having a wire-to-wire documentary on their upcoming season.  

“A light bulb went off in my head,” said Oaks Christian Institute of Arts and Innovation film production senior Christian Yoder. “I realized that I’d be taking the documentary class next year, and that it’d be the perfect project for me to undertake.”  

Out of that conversation, came “Running with the Lions,” Yoder’s 30-minute documentary that will be premiering at the Oaks Christian Annual Film Festival the first weekend of May. 

“It was almost providential,” Smith said of Yoder’s documentary. “If I were ever going to have a season documented, I’m glad it was this one.”  

 The boys’ cross-country program, led by Yoder and fellow senior Cooper McNee ran their way into the Oaks Christian history books when they claimed the first Marmonte League, CIF-SS, and state titles in boys’ cross-country history in 2024.  

The documentary follows Yoder, McNee, Josh Mitchell, Vin Krueger, and Arize Nwosu as they raced to a state title at Woodward Park in November 2024. Also featured in the film are Jaryt Chen, Thomas Mena, Conrad Weston, and Coach Smith.  

Oaks Christian Director of Film and IAI film production track leader Andrew Christopher guided Yoder through the storyboard process and encouraged him to pursue more than a story about running.  

“What’s the angle, and what’s the component of this film that leaves your audience better than when they started?” Christopher challenged Yoder. 

“Running with the Lions” takes viewers behind the scenes of their championship season but also offers insights into how their faith in Jesus Christ helped unify the team and made them stronger as the season’s peaks and valleys.  

“This was an opportunity to combine my passions of filmmaking and running,” Yoder said. “At Oaks Christian, we have a faith aspect to everything we do, obviously, so I thought it would be a cool perspective to see how the sport of running - which is really tough and a sport of suffering – and how we can use faith to our advantage to help us.”  

Yoder had to juggle being a team leader and a producer of a documentary. He leaned on the assistance of his cinematographer and fellow IAI film production senior Dylan Chmielewski, who had to be readily available to be at meets and practices to capture footage.  

“Dylan was a part of the team by the end of the season,” Smith said of the production process. “He was professional, and this was never a distraction to our guys. When we won the state championship, I was glad he was there to get to celebrate with us and capture that moment for this documentary.”  

“Running with the Lions” has been submitted to 22 film festivals and has gained acceptance to six, including the Oniros Film Awards® - New York, YoungFilmmakers, Los Angeles Film Awards, Indie Short Fest, Lift-Off Filmmaker Sessions, and The IndieFEST Film Awards. Yoder plans to attend the YoungFilmmakers Festival and IndieFEST in person. 

Chrisopher was pleased with the way Yoder was able to elevate his documentary through the weaving of faith and sport.  

“It’s not a surprise to me that this film turned out the way it did because he was laser-focused on his goal,” Christopher said. “How you train your body is the same sort of disciplined routine that he had in film class.” 

Oaks Christian’s 2024 campaign ended, as it always does at Woodward Park, with the boys hoisting a state-title plaque for the first time in school history.  

“I wasn’t really interested in producing a one-time project just for a film festival, but I wanted to create a legacy production that would capture the eighth state title in school history,” Yoder said. “It’s important to me that this isn’t just a one-off documentary, but it will be something that people can look back on years from now. Because of that, it added to the fire and the motivation from an artistic standpoint to make sure this is the best work I could do.” 

“Running with the Lions” premieres Friday, May 2 at the Oaks Christian Annual Film Festival at the Regal Cinemas at the Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks. For a complete list of events and tickets, visit OaksChristian.org.