Hoping to pave their way to nationals, the varsity cross-country team took first place in the Bell-Jeff Invitational held at the Greek Theater on Sept. 30 and in their second Mission League Cluster Meet held at Crescenta Valley Park on Oct. 10.
Led by Head Coach Lalo Diaz, the Cubs look to continue their undefeated streak. Diaz said, “We have 11 workouts a week. Every morning, every afternoon, and every Saturday we have practice. That attributes to our success in that it shows how hard these kids are willing to work. And the fact that we are successful is not necessarily based on the talent level but on the ability and willingness to work really hard.”
Junior captain Mason Ratkovich said, “We have a lot of talented runners. Each race is a competition not only against other schools but also a friendly battle among my teammates for a spot in the varsity race which varies from race to race depending on who are the fastest runners at the time.”
Seniors Corey Kumamoto and Liam Jamieson and juniors Ratkovich, Vinnie Giachini, Roberto Ruelas, Ethan Tse and Jonathan Topete placed in the top seven in the boys varsity race.
At their second CIF Cluster Meet at Crescenta Valley Park, Anthony Stone, Ratkovich and Jamieson earned the top three places in the varsity race.
The varsity cross-country team scored the lowest possible point value of 15 as they had the top five runners. Separating the top five Cubs were only seven seconds.
Stone led the way with a first place finish, running with a time of 15:49.43. Just milliseconds after was Ratkovich in second place.
Seniors Jamieson and Joshua Ma were separated by one second in third and fourth place, respectively. Kumamoto finished in fifth place with a time of 15:56.80.
Although only the top five runners for each team score, Juniors Roberto Ruelas, Giachini, and Hudson Godfrey finished in the sixth through eighth places. Overall, the varsity cross-country team ran for the top eight finishes in the second Mission League Cluster Meet of the season.
Tomorrow, the varsity cross-country team will run in the Mt. Sac Invitational at Mt. Sac Antonio College.
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