Running at Pepper Tree Park a couple of weeks ago, the Trinity Classical Academy boys and girls cross-country teams knew exactly what was in store at the Heritage League Finals at Pepper Tree Park on Tuesday.
“We had run it two weeks ago, so they all knew what time they had to beat,” said Trinity head coach Kathleen Kahovec. “It’s a pretty flat course. They were excited about it. The weather was perfect and they were all healthy and ready to go.”
Taking advantage of the conditions, the Knights girls team finished first with 28 total points, while the boys team finished in fourth with 102 total points.
Junior girls runner Eva Lintereur finished fifth overall to lead the Knights girls runners with a time of 22 minutes and 17 seconds and senior Emma Cunningham followed Lintereur in sixth place with a time of 22:31.0.
Linteruer and Cunningham were both selected to the first team All-Heritage League.
Freshman Karis Richardson came in eighth place in 23:03.0, Kate Stimson was ninth in 23:06.0 and Catie Robertson finished 11th with a time of 23:47.0. All three girls were selected to the second team All-Heritage League.
“Karis Richardson is our freshman that’s really good, she’s a solid No. 3 runner and is also an amazing athlete, never misses practice, does everything the coach says and pushes herself to be in the front with Eva,” Kahovec said.
Elianne Wang finished 18th in 25:45.0 and Megan Perry rounded out the top seven girls runners in 31st place with a time of 28:48.0.
The boys were led by a pair of junior runners in Chapman Wolf, who finished 19th in 18:48.0, and Chase Critser, who came in 22nd place in 18:59.0.
“As the season comes to an end, Chapman has really stepped it up,” said Kahovec. “He’s taken over the lead, strong in every race, stayed healthy, very encouraging with the freshman boys because they are right behind him.”
Those freshmen, Cai Margrave and Samuel Robertson, have picked up enough knowledge from the upperclassmen to finish in 31st place in 19:25 and 33rd in 19:26.0, respectively.
“Cai listens to the coaching really well, he works so hard at every practice, he’s made every race and is never sick, he runs so hard, he stays up front with the top two runners,” Kahovec said. “Sam struggled a little bit health-wise in the middle of the season and now he’s coming back really strong. Those two are going to be top runners over the next few years at Trinity.”
Liam Hambel-Rodin finished 35th in 19:30.0, Mario Bethke finished 39th in 19:37.0 and Andrew Ketejian finished 53rd in 20:21.0.
Both the girls and boys teams are headed to CIF-Southern Section Prelims held at Riverside Cross-Country Course on Saturday, Nov. 16th at 7:45 a.m.
“Everyone except for two PR’ed, so they are peaking at the right time,” Kahovec said of the final league meet. “Our freshmen did exceptional. Eva had a tough race, but she was our No. 1 runner and our two senior girls, Emma and Catie, felt she had a great race and are ready to move on to CIF-SS Prelims.”
