It is not running unless you are running for something.
Throughout her cross country career at Laguna Hills, Brianna Bartello held those words close to her heart as she competed to the best of her ability.
The senior had many reasons to be inspired to do well this season.
She was running alongside her identical twin sister, Marissa, for their fourth and final high school season. This time, the two of them shared the team’s captaincy, a sign of the girls’ growth together.
Laguna Hills was coming off of back-to-back trips to the CIF state meet. If the Hawks were going to get back there, Bartello was told that she and her sister would have to finish in the top 10 at year’s end to accomplish that goal.
The twins delivered, with Brianna winding up as the CIF-SS Division 3 champion. The team fell shy of qualifying for the state meet, but she had given it everything she had.
“Our main goal was to get everyone back to state and to relive our potential,” Bartello said. “I didn’t want to go by myself because it’s hard doing stuff without your family. Everyone on our team tried their best, and we missed it by a little.”
For her commitment to her teammates and her outstanding achievement on the race course, Bartello has been selected the Register’s girls cross country athlete of the year.
Things did not always go according to plan. Cramping forced Bartello to ease up on the last hill at the Orange County Championships. She finished 20th overall.
The senior bounced back a week later to win the Division 3 title at the Mt. SAC Invite.
Bartello conquered the challenging hills of the Mt. San Antonio College course. The Hawks’ ace won all three races she ran there this season, including a 23-second margin of victory in the CIF-SS Finals.
Bartello called the South Coast League Finals her favorite race of the year. Brianna captured the individual league title, and when she looked over her shoulder, Marissa was right behind her.
Hawks coach Chris Lynch described Brianna’s improvement after the O.C. Championships as characteristic of the twins’ careers at Laguna Hills.
“Year after year they improved. You look at their progress and it’s gone exponential,” he said. “That’s hard to do, especially when things come so easy to you as a freshmen.”
Lynch pointed to the patches that adorned the varsity jackets worn by the twins and then continued.
“Right out of the gate they were something special, but they weren’t all-state as freshmen,” he said. “Their last race was the best of their career, and they did it together. There really isn’t any other way it should have happened with these two.”
