Story by Amber Chen
Staff Writer
Photo by Judy Parkinson
Contributor
The varsity cross country teams competed in the Rio Hondo League finals on Thursday, Nov 7. The boys team continued their reign over the league with a first place overall finish, while the girls team fell eight points short of the top spot and rival La Cañada.
The boys team coasted to first place. Senior Sam Clark set the pace for the varsity boys race, placing first with a time of 16:44. Juniors Andrew Parkinson (3), Andrew Villapadua (4), and Patrick Latting (5) followed shortly in 16:50, 16:51, and 17:06, respectively.
Sophomore Brady Nakamura finished in 17:36, earning 11th place. Seniors Ian Wang (19) and Earl Tizon (26) rounded out the team with times of 18:00 and 18:28, respectively.
“We accomplished our goal, winning while expending as little energy as possible, so we can have more energy for CIF finals and state” Parkinson said.
Sophomore Sydney Morrow led the girls team, placing third with a time of 18:53. In seventh place, sophomore Mai Koyama ran a 19:29 and junior Lindsay Michels finished right behind her in eight place in 19:34.
Junior Amelia Jarolim came in 15th at 20:44 and senior Amber Gonzalez-Pacheco earned a time of 20:58, finishing in 17th place. Sophomore Kerrigan Riley (18) completed the course in 21:03, while fellow sophomore Lilian Zhu (24) with a time of 22:15.
“Sadly, [we didn’t beat Cañada], but we’re still in the run for making it to state, so that’s now our new goal and that’s now what we’re striving to achieve,” Gonzalez-Pacheco said. “We now have a better mentality of what we want to do, and I think we’re all more focused and more motivated, and more positive, as a team, now that we know that we have a chance at state,”
Both teams qualify for Division IV CIF preliminaries on Friday, Nov. 15.
