By Justin Hsieh, Staff Writer
This morning, the boys’ cross country team gave a solid all-around performance at their very own Central Park Invitational. Facing off against over a hundred schools from six states, the Baron boys’ intimate familiarity with the three-mile Central Park course gave them an edge in the highly competitive invitational meet.
At 8:30 a.m., five Baron boys took off from the starting line for the Division 1 boys’ varsity race. Standout performances were given by seniors Justin Schmidt and Nicholas Mockus as well as sophomore Jaden Nguyen, with respective times of 16:07, 16:21 and 17:12. Both Schmidt and Mockus placed in the top 50 out of 286 runners, with Schmidt in 30th and Mockus in 41st.
“I thought the race went really well for both myself and the team,” said Schmidt. “I think we all have been working hard this week, and the training’s been paying off. All the times are coming through and the way we’ve been training is leading up to OC Champs and League Finals in the next two weeks. I believe we’re going to kill it out there and hopefully get to CIF Prelims.”
An hour later, the Barons’ four junior boys competed in the Division 1 junior boys’ race. Uy Tran led the boys, placing 47th with an 18:49 – an astounding 38-second personal record (PR) on the notoriously slow Central Park course.
“[In the] first mile I was boxed in, but I think it was helpful since it kept me from going out too fast,” said Tran.
At 10:30 a.m., the Barons took to the dirt once again for the Division 1 freshman boys’ race. The freshmen were led by Jonathan D’Ambrosio, who placed 48th with an 18:43.
Finally, the Barons closed their day of competition with an outstanding performance by the sophomore boys’ team, who competed at 11:30 a.m. Despite an incomplete roster, the boys managed to place 6th as a team with leaders Hunter Augustus, Michael Mockus, and Dezi Hernandez all placing in the top 50. Augustus, who placed 10th, finished at an impressive 17:21. Additionally, Samson Le was one of only two people on the team to set a personal record on the tough course, cutting off an incredible 57 seconds to finish at 23:45.
“I thought overall we did really well. We had some special PRs from people who improved by 30 or 40 seconds, and the weather was really conducive to our performance,” said Coach Steve Knowles. “I think the sophomore team performed very well, and that bodes well for our varsity team in the future. Justin Schmidt and Uy [Tran] had great performances today. The way that we performed today makes me very excited about the rest of the season.”
