The Los Alamitos High cross country teams had a solid showing at the Central Park Invitational on Saturday in Huntington Beach, as both the boys and girls varsity teams took second place in their respective races. The Griffins graduated some of their top runners over the past couple of years, so they are a young group, with some sophomores and freshmen jumping into the varsity lineup.
The boys were led by one of their remaining seniors in Matthew Mahue, who finished fifth overall in the boys race to pace the Griffins. He completed the three-mile course in 15 minutes, 41.5 seconds. He was followed closely by his teammate, sophomore Will Lieras, who took sixth overall in 15:47.
The Griffins were pleased with the finish, despite have a shot to catch first-place Woodbridge, who edged out the Griffins with a score of 84, to the Griffins’ 95 points. The third place team was Taft High with a 148. Mahue said he thought the team had a very good warmup before the 9:30 a.m. start.
He also said that the team’s familiarity with the course helped. The Griffins regularly train at the Park, so they are familiar with the course and know the spots they like to push to try and gain advantages. Mayhue felt it was his best races so far this year.
“I think I ran one of my best races, it’s not my fastest, but I ran it smart,” Mayhue said. “I just felt good throughout.”
Junior Sully Pareti finished third for the Griffins, in 13th place overall, with a time of 16:01.2. Junior Jaden Cooks was 22nd overall with a time of 16:11.1. Junior Jonathan Vazquez ran a 16:34.5 and senior Charley Nelson was the sixth scorer with a time of 16:44.6, while sophomore Kent Inanaga was less than a second behind Nelson with a time of 16:45 to round out the scoring.
The Griffins girls team also took second in the varsity race, led by junior Madeleine Heenan, who finished 8th overall, with a time of 18:58.1. The Griffins held off Taft High, 154-163 for second place, while Santiago of Corona ran away with first place with a score of just 64. But the girls team also felt like second place in the large field of teams was a good sign as they look to finish strong as Orange County Championships arrive on Oct. 18, followed by Sunset League Finals on Nov. 1.
“I think we’re definitely developing as a team, from the beginning of our season, … we lost a few girls from last year, but I feel like we’re coming together, we’re working really hard in practice and starting to see the results that we wanted to see,” Heenan said.
The Griffin girls had three runners finish in the top 18, with freshman Sophia Camera taking 14th in a time of 19:20.8. Junior Caris Honma was 18th overall with a time of 19:27.4. Freshman Amelia Davis was fourth for the Griffins with a time of 20:08.4.
Senior Serena Peterson was the fifth scorer for the Griffins, with a time of 20:59.8 and sophomore Amy Tang rounded out the scoring with a time of 22:00.3.
Huntington Beach High took fourth in the boys varsity team standings, led by senior Michael Appell,who finished third overall, with a time of 15:29.6. Marina High took eighth place in the team scoring with junior Nathan Cajilig leading the Vikings with a time of 16:12.9.
In the girls varsity race, Edison junior Avery Williams took third place overall, with a time of 18:40.3 and Fountain Valley sophomore Teagan Bradshaw also had a solid run, taking seventh overall with a time of 18:57.6. Edison sophomore Rakhshani was 11th overall, while Marina senior Sally Woodruff and sophomore Lily Casas were 15th and 16th, respectively.
