Cross country runners prepare for Bay League finals, CIF meets
Mira Costa cross country runners (left to right) Michael Elias, Quinn Satow, Alan Faber, Xavier Court, Chris Shirazi, Cy Chittenden and JP Soares set a new school team record at the Mt. SAC Invitational last Saturday. Photo by Damian Court
Following strong performances by Bay League teams at the 70th annual Brooks Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational last weekend, the league final promises to feature highly competitive races when the event is held Thursday, Nov. 2 at the Palos Verdes course.
Mira Costa’s Xavier Court continued to prove he is one of the state’s top runners, placing 4th at Mt. SAC with a personal-best time of 14 minutes, 44 seconds on a 2.93-mile course. The mark is the 9th-fastest in the state this season and broke the Mira Costa record by more than 20 seconds.
Mira Costa’s Xavier Court ran a personal best to place fourth overall breaking the school’s individual record by more than 20 seconds. Photo by Damian Court
In a field of 122 runners, Court led Mira Costa’s boys team to an 8th-place finish in the Division 1 & 2 Sweepstakes race on Saturday. The Mustangs are ranked No. 13 in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 poll.
“It was definitely an exciting race, with tons of competition at the D1 level for myself and the team,” Court said. “I felt confident and strong during the race and I have loved running on this course ever since my freshman year.”
Also running for Mira Costa was Cy Chittenden (29th, 15:27), JP Soares (55th, 15:55), Michael Elias (77th, 16:01), Chris Shirazi (83rd, 16:14), Alan Faber (88th, 16:17) and Quinn Satow (104th, 16:43).
“Mt SAC is an epic cross country event as the course has remained essentially unchanged,” said former Mira Costa runner and current boys coach Jeff Atkinson. “It allows generations of past runners to really enjoy the event and its long history, including me, from when I was in high school.
“The boys team had a heavy training week ahead of Mt SAC with a goal to be peaking at State so there was no letting up or tapering in advance of this past weekend racing. Combined, the team set a new school record by more than one minute with a new team time of 78:23 minutes.”
Competing in the Division 1 & 2 Individual Sweepstakes, Redondo’s boy team placed 5th. The Sea Hawks were led by Benjamin Tait who finished 15th at 15:32 among 92 runners. Other runners included: Sangjun Lee (33rd, 15:56), Anthony Bass (38th, 16:05), Cade Erickson (41st, 16:09), Alberto Aguilar (44th, 16:11) and Farooq Tariq (58th, 16:30).
In girls competition, Mira Costa placed 12th in the 108-runner Team Sweepstakes race behind the running of Olivia Hacohen (37th 18:37), Brooke Inouye (47th, 18:54), Cara Chittenden (52nd, 18:58), Lucy Atkinson (59th, 19:08), Carmen Mel (78th, 19:39), Pnina Tofler (85th, 19:39) and Anna Graves (101st, 19:51). The Mustangs are ranked ranked No. 5 in Division 1.
Olivia Hacohen led Mira Costa’s girls team to a 12th-place finish in the Team Sweepstakes race. Photo by Damian Court
“We have been training through all of our races this season and Mt. SAC was no exception,” Mira Costa girls coach Renee Williams-Smith said. “The Team Sweepstakes race, the premier race, went out faster than our team had expected and they were caught a little bit by surprise. They are a young team still gaining experience, mostly made up of juniors. The girls are feeling the positive effects of the work they have been doing and I believe are well positioned for the League challenge next week in PV. The Bay League is always one of the strongest in California so it is another opportunity to race at a high level. This opens up the post season CIF races in the lead up to the Californian State Championship.”
With only four runners, Redondo’s girls team did not place in the Individual Sweepstakes but had strong performances by Peyton Heiden (18th. 18:37.2), Kasey Bohney (22nd, 19:11.9), Isabel Ramirez (32nd, 19:36.1) and Teja Skalko (39th, 19:51.8). The Sea Hawks are ranked No. 19 in Division 1.
Peninsula competed in Division 2 and was led by Kade Wong (3rd, 15:57) in the boys race and Jessica Nye (4th, 19:35) for the girls.
In Friday’s Division 3 competition, Palos Verdes’ boys team placed first behind Nathan Lantz’s 9th-place finish at 15:26.while the girls team placed second behind strong performances by Samantha Steman (3rd, 17:46) and Grace Catena (5th, 17:59). Both teams are ranked No. 1 in CIF-SS Division 3.