Recap: Cross Country | November 2, 2018

Huntington Beach, Calif -- In an impressive day of racing, both the Girls and Boys Varsity Cross Country teams placed first at the Trinity League Finals last Friday at Huntington Beach Central Park. Making the day even sweeter, Senior Nadia Tabrizi placed first overall in the Varsity Girls race while junior Anthony Grover nabbed the title in the Varsity Boys Race.

The Varsity Girls' race was exciting from the get go with recent Cal Berkeley commit Nadia Tabrizi going out head to head with OLu's top runner. As she reached the half-mile marker, Coach Dugard gave the signal to go–and that she did, leaving OLu in her wake. Tabrizi held onto her gutsy early lead throughout the race, crossing the finish line in 17:40.6 for first place.

Following their race plan, seniors Isabella Abusaid (18:14.3 for 3^rd), Emilie Dufault (18:52.1 for 8^th), and Maddie Brough (19:06.2 for 10^th) ran in a strong pack through the first mile marker. At that point they took it out, pressing the pace with freshman Lauren Viola seconds behind (19:26.6 for 12^th).

Also running on the varsity team were sophomore Jen Alvarado (21:37.7) and junior Ryan Engles (22:32.0)

Solidly finishing ahead of their competition, the Lady Running Lions scored 34 points for 1st place with 2nd place Santa Margarita scoring 57 points and 3rd place Mater Dei scoring 59. In an outstanding team effort, only 75 seconds split the difference between the girls' 1^st and 5^th place runners.

"The Jserra Varsity girls executed the team strategy perfectly, running as a tight pack," recounted Head Coach Marty Dugard. "Four girls placed in the top ten overall, earning All-Trinity League honors."

The Varsity Boys race went out hard and fast with junior Anthony Grover (14:35.4) holding nothing back, running an all time personal record and placing first overall in the Trinity League. "Anthony Grover's wire to wire victory was a marvel to watch, but perhaps the best note of the boy's varsity race was the overall team performance," exclaimed Coach Dugard.

Senior Peter Herold (15:07.8), racing on the heels of Grover all season solidly captured 2^nd place nearly 24 seconds ahead of the 3^rd place St. John Bosco runner. Matthew Burkhardt (15:42) took 15 seconds off his 2017 time placing 6^th in a personal best time.

Freshman Brennan Foody made an outstanding Trinity League Finals debut with a 10^th place finish in 15:52.0 good for All-Trinity League along with Grover, Herold, and Burkhardt.

Fifth place scoring runner for the Varsity Lions Luc Bragdon (16:00.9) finished one place out of the top 10 beating his previous course time and in a season record. Also running for the varsity boys were sophomore Kennie Arriole (16:27.4) and senior Jack Hemphill (16:48.4).

Next Up: The running lions travel to CIF Prelims on Saturday to be held at the Riverside Cross Country Course. The first race is scheduled to kick off at 9:15 a.m. Good Luck Lions!