Photo by Sophie Yeung
Staff Photographer
The varsity cross country teams met high expectations set by past seasons in their first league meet on Thursday, Sept. 20. The girls’ and boys’ teams placed second and first overall respectively, just as they did last season in the three mile course at Lacy Park.
Both the girls’ and boy’s team have consistently dominated Rio Hondo in past years and are known for their communal fast pace and high rankings. The boys in particular showed signs of continuing their championship streak in their first league meet. Senior Kai Dettman led the race in first place with a time of 16:14.60. Following him in third was junior Sam Clark (16:40.40), while seniors Nicolo Porcu (16:52.50), Michael Xiong (17:05.10), and Francesco Fortunelli (17:12.40) finished consecutively after, achieving ranks of fifth, sixth, and seventh. Rounding out the top 20 were junior Ian Wang with a time of 17:53.70 in 13th and sophomore Benicio Perez with 15:56.00 in 15th. The boys managed an outstanding overall score of 22, taking first place over Temple CIty by an impressive margin of 64 points.
The girls also placed well, placing second to La Cañada by just 14 points with an overall score of 47. Up and coming varsity star freshman Sydney Morrow headed the varsity girls, placing sixth with a time of 19:44.90. Senior runner Elizabeth Bock earned 8th at 20:04.50, followed shortly behind by another freshman, Mai Koyama (20:14.60). In 11th, 13th, and 14th were seniors Lindsey Calva and Sarah Uriarte, as well as sophomore Chaerin Lee ran across the finish within just seconds of each other, earning respective times of 20:33.40, 20:40.30, and 20:41.70. Sophomore Luyang Zhang trailed the group in 22nd place, running a time of 22:50.20.
The Tigers also competed in the Woodbridge Invitational on Friday, Sept. 14 where the girls’ and boys’ placed second and 22nd in their respective divisions. Varsity hopes to maintain their solid league record as the season continues when they compete in the Clovis Invitational at Clovis North High School on Saturday, Oct. 6.
