Five of the six Foothill League cross country teams took to Brookside Country Club in Pasadena to showcase just what they have at the Cool Breeze Invitational on Friday.
The Hart boys team had the best finish on the boys side, coming in second place out of 21 schools in the boys varsity large school 3-mile race with an average mile time of five minutes, 19 seconds.
Junior Joseph Ahart led the Indians boys runners finishing in fourth place with a time of 15:31.2, Jason Lucero came in ninth in 15:43.7 and Jaden Wiley just missed out on the top 10 finish in 15:48.8 for 11th place.
Zack Chan, Carson DeSpain, Nathan Guyton and Alan Romero rounded out the top seven Hart boys runner as they all finished inside the top 75.
Canyon’s top boys runner, Freddie DeAnda pulled out the win by 0.5 seconds to beat out Santa Fe’s Matthew Mora with a time of 15:17.3.
“The game plan from the very beginning was to get out and stay with the top five runners and get into a rhythm and of course anything can happen in that last mile and he looked really good,” said Canyon head coach George Velarde of DeAnda. “He did say that towards the last 800 meters he felt that he was cramping and wasn’t sure if he could keep up with the leader. The last 200 or 300 meters he came from behind and out-kicked him to win the race.”
Kyle Stevens followed DeAnda in fifth place, Frank Lofton in 19th place, Charles Tanglao 31st, Jayson Velarde 37th, Mason Williams came in 41st and Nicholas Abrot came in 104th to guide the team to a third-place finish.
Golden Valley’s boys runner Antonio Abrego paced the team to a 15th place finish coming in 65th in 16:54. Grant Doughtery and Kevin Souza also delivered top 100 finishes coming in 81st and 84th, respectively.
The Cowboys girls cross-country team finished sixth in the girls varsity large school 3-mile race with an average mile time of 6:22 seconds.
Finally looking like her true self, Angelee Berganio came in sixth place in 18:09.3, Chandler Bietsch followed in 19th place in 18:52.9 and Kayla Young finished in 19:01.5 for 29th place.
“Now the last week and a half we are starting to see a healthy Angelee and it shows,” Velarde said. “The girls follow her lead and you have to give the girls credit they are running really well, we are healthy and the rankings came out this morning and they are happy that they got to see a little bit of a reward as they are recognized and ranked ninth in Division 2, but we still have a long way to go. We definitely have a long way to go.”
Hart’s girls cross-country team finished 13th as a team with Brielle Wiley coming in 52nd in 19:18.3, Grayce Garcia finished 63rd in 19:30.8 and Kaitlyn Rivadeneira 89th in 19:56.8 as the top three Indians girls runners.
Golden Valley’s Jennifer Santiago and Joellen Bragasin finished 57th and 68th, respectively, to guide the Grizzlies girls team to 20th place.
The No. 3 ranked Division 1 Saugus girls cross-country team took part in the Sundown Showdown 3-mile race and came in second place behind the No. 1 ranked Great Oak.
Hailey Rutter and Hannah Fredericks placed 13th and 14th to lead the Saugus girls runner with similar finishes in 17:46.5 and Isabella Duarte finished 26th in 18:09.2.
Macy Bryant, Miranda Velasco and Cassidy Molina all finished inside the top 100 girls runners.
Valencia’s Hailey Kirsch finished 20th in 18:00.5 and Sydney Makar finished 59th in 18:51.1 to lead the girls team to 16th place overall.
Saugus boys team finished 11th overall and Valencia boys team finished 34th in the boys varsity Sundown Showdown 3-mile race.
Nick Serrano led the way for the Centurions in 14:53.1 for 10th place, Blake Gallardo finished 26th in 15:10.2, while Valencia’s Armitage Andrew had the best Vikings boys finishes coming in 59th in 15:40.2.
