By Justin Hsieh, Staff Writer
This afternoon, the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams competed in the Sunset Conference (formerly the Sunset League) Preview, the first of two conference meets. Although both teams were holding back, saving their energy for later meets, the girls were unable to avoid dominating the meet, placing first in junior varsity and varsity.
The meet began with the frosh/soph races, with girls at 3 p.m. and boys at 3:30 p.m. Despite the notorious difficulty of the three-mile course at Huntington Central Park, freshman Kaho Cichon and sophomore Cielo Chavarria managed to place first and third in the girls’ race with personal records (PRs) of 20:32 and 21:23, respectively. Among the boys, sophomore Samson Le PRed by over a minute, coming in at 24:42.
“Since it was my second race, I was a little nervous,” said Cichon. “[My teammates] gave me a lot of advice, and that helped me feel more confident. I was surprised and really happy [with my performance], and I think I can do better next time.”
At 4 p.m., in the girls’ junior varsity race, the Barons commanded the course as all five girls placed in the top 10. The team was led by juniors Maddie Jahshan and Ellie Peterson, who finished first and second at 19:21 and 20:39, respectively. In the boys’ race half an hour later, senior Phong Co placed 8th with a 17:55.
“I think it was a pretty good race, but I could’ve done better,” said Jahshan. “I was supposed to break 19; I got 19:21, so not exactly what I hoped for. Overall, though, it was decent, and it felt good to finally be up there.”
An hour after the JV girls’ race, Baron supporters had a distinct sense of déjà vu as the varsity girls flew into the chute in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, eleventh and twelfth place, easily claiming the first place title. Seniors Sara Feitz and Ashley Faller both led the pack at 18:43.
“It was actually really, really fun,” said Feitz. “It’s always more fun when we run in a pack, and it was honestly pretty easy until the last little bit. We’re taking it really slow, trying to stay undercover for the first few weeks, but I feel like our season is going to extend a lot farther and hopefully, we’re state bound.”
Although the girls’ performances were impressive across the board, it was clear that they still had a lot more in reserve. None of the seven varsity girls PRed, and even their irreproachable victory was a conservative effort in the context of their long-term vision.
“The girls did what they were asked to do; they worked together as a group. They had a ten-second pack among the scoring runners, and a 27-second pack one through seven. They obviously held back and worked together to accomplish that part. I think we’re racing in October and November, and we’re building in September,” said girls’ Coach Jerry Palazzo.
Similarly, the boys’ varsity kept their pace in check, with all of the runners holding back at about a minute above their personal bests. Seniors Justin Schmidt and Yuki Watanabe led the group with solid but unremarkable times of 16:40 and 16:54, respectively.
“Although a few people raced today, for the most part, we treated this race as a hard workout. There were some decent performances, but we’re a little tired coming off of Dana Hills. We’re resetting for the second part of our season, and adjusting to that bit of natural tiredness,” said Boys’ Coach Luis Morales.
