On Friday the cross country teams competed in the Coastal Conference Championships. This meet determines the final league standings for the Coastal and Pacific Leagues and also establishes the overall top teams and individuals for the two leagues combined. Conditions at Kit Carson Park this time of year are usually hot and dusty, so Friday’s mild weather was very welcome as runners navigated the 5K course that includes lots of flat terrain and a big hill run twice.

For the JV boys, this was the final race of the season, and with this in mind most of the boys had the goal of ending the season with a strong effort. Just like last year, Eisa al Mazrouei led the way and established a new 5K PR with his time of 20:28, and his finishing place of 23rd earned a medal. Also running their best 5K ever were Ricardo Cervera (21:40, 41st), Andrew Kuhn (21:45, 42nd), Jacob Walter (21:58, 47th), and Walter Chen (22:06, 49th). David Thorpe was our 2nd finisher in 20:45 and 29th, a season best for 5K and close to his PR. Sam Geddes (21:46, 43rd), whose minor injuries interrupted his training all season long, ran a strong race that was only 10 seconds off of the PR time he set two weeks ago. Erik Yang (23:21, 66th) and Spencer Heaton (23:42, 76th) also ran times not far off their best as they concluded their first XC season. Team results are unofficial for the JV boys, but we know that our top 5 finished 4th in the league and 5th in the conference.

The girls were the next to race, and against young and talented league and conference competition – Santa Fe Christian and Bishop’s are among the state’s best -- they saw mixed results. The team was missing their usual #4 and #5 scorers; Jenna Hernandez was at a lacrosse tournament and Sarah Lindlan was sick. Jaden McDaniel, despite not feeling well, ran a steady race on her way to a 21:25 PR time and medal-winning 16th place. Ilaria Comfort was our next finisher at 22:53 and 33rd. Grace Karmazin-Schneider was only 5 seconds off her 5K PR and also ran 90 seconds faster than last year in finishing in 23:30 (38th). Aubree Potter (28:11, 91st) and Vivian Li (31:01, 106th) were our final two scorers. After completing her first 5K race two weeks ago, the goal for Alexcia Doak for the last race of her season was simply to repeat this feat, to run consistently and finish the race. Not only did she accomplish this, but she also cut a minute off of her time. As a team the girls finished 6th in league and 9th in conference.

The varsity boys were the last race of the afternoon and the race featured two of the top D-5 teams in California, Parker and Santa Fe Christian, as well as last year’s D-5 San Diego champion and all-State runner, Riley Burns of Maranatha. As in the girls race, youth was a major feature of the race: of the top 50 runners, only 6 were seniors. Country Day was one of a few teams with no seniors on the varsity; we went to the line with 3 juniors, 3 sophomores, and 1 freshman. Tian Zhao led the way for the Torreys with a time of 18:21 and 25th place. Though Tian’s training was interrupted due to heat stroke suffered in an earlier meet this season, his time was a season best for 5K and not far off his PR. Daven Gujral, despite clutching his stomach for much of the race, was our 2nd finisher in a PR time of 19:07 (36th). Paul Criado (19:35, 47th), Jake Needle (19:37, 48th), Aidan Ideker (20:28, 64th), and RJ Parry (21:05, 75th) also ran 5K PR’s, while John Guckian (20:02, 54th) was only 4 seconds off of his PR. Despite the many PR’s run, the boys were not able to move up in the standings and finished 6th in the league and 9th in the conference. Riley Burns repeated as champion and Parker took the team title in a very fast race that saw the top 6 runners all finish under 16:40 and the top 19 under 18:00.

The teams will compete next Saturday at Morley Field in the San Diego section CIF championships. The top two girls teams and top three boys teams in division 5 will qualify for the State Meet, while individuals not on state-qualifying teams must finish in the top 12 (girls) or top 14 (boys) to earn an individual spot. The boys race at 11:10, while the girls will toe the line at 12:50.