By Justin Hsieh, News Editor
This morning, the Barons’ cross country team competed at the Orange County Cross Country Championships. Although the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams fell short of their expectations for the meet, the day saw strong performances and many personal records (PRs) from the team’s lower levels.
The Barons got off to a promising start with the large schools’ freshman girls race, where they put five girls on the starting line of the three-mile course. The girls were led by Kiera Tallas and Evelyn To, who placed 20th and 26th out of 122 runners with personal records of 20:30 and 20:34, respectively. Four out of five runners PRed, and the fifth was only four seconds short of doing so.
“I am very proud of myself as well as my fellow teammates,” said freshman Sierra Springer, who placed 31st with a PR of 20:56. “Being able to see how our hard work is paying off is so amazing. My goal by the end of the season was to break 21, and I was able to do that so I am very proud of the hard work I put into the race… I am very excited to go to League Finals, since this is my first year, and I can’t wait to feel the energy and determination of our team as the season comes to an end.”
The Barons then competed in the large schools’ freshman boys race, where they saw equal success from their team of 20 runners. The boys were led by Benjamin Prado, who placed 12th out of 173 with an impressive PR of 16:57. An astonishing 13 of 20 runners PRed, with notable performances from Andrew Hernandez and Thomas Chisnall, who ran respective times of 18:34 and 18:42.
“I felt well prepared for this new course,” said Prado. “My performance today was the result of hard work. I believe that in two weeks I’ll be fully prepared for League Finals.”
While the Barons were unable to maintain this winning streak in the varsity races, with none of their nine boys or seven girls setting PRs, several frontrunners were able to make solid performances. In the Division 2 boys’ varsity race, junior Hunter Augustus and senior Kyle Meis placed 33rd and 36th out of 130 with respective times of 16:20 and 16:21. In the girls’ sweepstakes race, senior Maddie Jahshan placed 39th out of 117 with an 18:42.
“The race was good,” said Augustus. “It was difficult because you start out and immediately there’s a hill, and there are a couple of rolling hills after that, but me and Kyle were in the front of the pack so that was a little boost for our state of mind. I feel like we’re improving a lot; if we can keep this up at CIF we’ll do good.”
Despite suboptimal outcomes on the varsity front, the Barons managed to regain their stride with the sophomore races. In the large schools’ girls sophomore race, Vy Vu gave a solid solo performance of 21:59. In the large schools’ boys sophomore race, leaders Shane Hill and Jonathan D’Ambrosio fell short of PRs but managed to place 15th and 28th out of 165 with respective times of 16:54 and 17:31. Nine of the 19 sophomore boys PRed, including Asher Bradshaw with an 18:01.
“I was in pain the entire time,” said Hill. “Despite going into the race with stomach cramps, then going up a hill, then doing rolling hills after that – I thought I was going to collapse, before I even raced I thought I was going to collapse. But I finished it and I am so surprised I did. So I think my performance was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.”
The Barons closed the day with the junior varsity races. In the large schools’ boys junior varsity race, 11 runners were led by juniors Aaron Sun, Nelson Boyack and Benjamin Nguyen, all of whom finished at 19:12. In the large schools’ girls junior varsity race, Sabrina Fedele and Hillary Nguyen placed 16th and 32nd out of 113, with respective times of 21:13 and 21:56.
“I was really nervous at the beginning because everyone was talking about how dusty it was, and how you couldn’t breathe, and that there was a really bad hill,” said Boyack. “And then once I started, I was still nervous, but instead of making me scared it pushed me to go faster. I think I did pretty well considering that a lot of the race I was tempted to just stop and stand to the side. I’m definitely excited to see if I can keep pushing my time below the 19 minute mark. I didn’t get that today, but I was close.”
Overall, the Barons saw mixed performances from their runners, with many of their usual frontrunners facing unexpected challenges at the meet. However, the team is largely optimistic about their chances at Sunset Conference Finals, which will take place on Saturday, November 2.
