BREA – The heatwave caused quite a stir in the days leading up to the Brea Cross Country Invitational.
At the end of Saturday’s meet, it was clear that the weather conditions had made an impact. Foothill fell just three seconds shy of claiming the girls’ team title on the 3.1-mile Carbon Canyon Park course after rule changes were made to accommodate the revised heat schedule.
Tournament director and Brea Olinda coach Jeremy Mattern decided to combine several races to move up the completion of the meet. The result was that because all the runners accounting for the team score did not run in the same race, the final team scores were based on time.
Foothill finished with a 76 to 99 points lead over Citrus Valley, but the Knights’ combined time of 1:43:42 placed them in second.
It was a good day for Foothill, which saw freshman Hannah Hall (19:32) and senior Emily Dabrow (19:46) cross the end line second and third, respectively.
“It’s a fun challenge,” Hall said of racing at the varsity level. “It’s better to be with people who are faster than you so that you can improve.”
Foothill’s Moises Santos was the top Orange County runner on the boys’ side. He earned sixth place with a time of 16:24.
“We had a race on Wednesday, and we kind of struggled through that,” Foothill coach Matt Bell said. “We challenged the kids to come out of here with a little different attitude and they responded real well.”
Other county girls placing in the top 10 were Santiago’s Fanny Delacruz (20:10), Brea Olinda’s Meredith Lehman (20:20), and Troy’s Jadzia Nguyen-Khoa (20:29).
Rubidoux took home the boys championship after Luis Ramos and Anthony Alvarez grabbed the top two spots with sub-16-minute times.
Apart from Santos, Pacifica’s Jacob Smith was the only other Orange County male to place in the top 10. The sophomore set a personal record with a 16:45 mark. Smith said the conditions were dry, but he enjoyed the combined structure of the varsity-level races.
“I actually liked it more that way,” he said. “I had more teammate support. I had more people in the race that were there to back me up.”
Godinez Runner Hospitalized
Godinez’s Oscar Figueroa was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange as a precautionary measure after displaying signs of dehydration. He experienced dizziness and slurred speech after completing his race.
