By Jenny Tran and Jonathan Tran
On Saturday, Oct. 29, the Fountain Valley Cross Country team competed in the Sunset Conference Finals at Huntington Beach, Central Park. The top two teams each in Surf and Wave League get to advance onto CIF-SS preliminaries at Mt. Sac. The varsity boys competed in the Surf League, while the varsity girls competed in the Wave League. The boys placed first in Surf while the girls placed fourth in Wave.
In the Wave League, the girls went against Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos and Newport Harbor. They placed fourth overall with 89 points, Huntington Beach with 38, Los Alamitos with 44 and Newport Harbor with 59.
However, the team still put in a striking effort, the top three runners scoring 10th, 17th and 19th. The overall average was 20 minutes and 38 seconds and the average mile was six minutes and 53 seconds.
“Honestly, I was dazed [during the race]. I literally did not think,” junior Melissa Huynh said. “I was pretty happy with how I raced. I’m not happy with my time, but I’m happy with my effort because I really felt like dying.”
While in the Surf League, the boys went up against Newport Harbor, Edison and Los Alamitos. With the fact that the team with the lowest points wins, the Barons swept their competition, coming in first place in their league while only accumulating 34 points. This was followed by Newport Harbor with 48 points, Edison with 64, and Los Alamitos with 65.
The Barons did not disappoint and went into the race with the mindset to crush the race, which they did. The top three runners scored 2nd, 3rd and 6th. The overall average time for the Barons in the three-mile race was 15 minutes and 57 seconds with the average mile time being 5 minutes and 19 seconds.
“I think the team did really well,” senior Zach Smilor said. “We had some sickness and injuries but we still won the Sunset League, which was what really mattered. Being champions three years in a row has been amazing, and is something not a lot of teams can say.”
This win qualified the Barons boys’ varsity team for the CIF-SS preliminaries at Mt. Sac and for a chance to go on to compete in the CIF-SS Finals.
The Barons will compete at the CIF-SS preliminaries at the Mt. Sac Cross Country Course in Walnut, California on Friday, Nov. 11.
