By Trista Candiotty
The Los Alamitos High School Cross Country team ran their second race of the season at the 42nd Annual Woodbridge H.S. Cross Country Classic on September 16. Woodbridge is a well known nationally held event bringing in over 15,000 runners from 400 high schools throughout the United States for a two-day race.
The Griffin girls all had good races. The novice and sophomore girls both placed fifth. The novice team was led by Maddie Heenan (21:43) and the sophomore team was led by Phoebe Grimshaw (20:05). The freshman girls came in sixth place led by Caris Honma (20:22). Los Alamitos junior Thalia Griffith (19:50), followed by Milly Verdugo (20:56) both helped the JV girls place seventh. The girl’s varsity team ran one of the fastest races in the nation, junior Stevie Holguin (17:58) followed by junior Olivia Bettinger (18:29) scored great times.
The Los Alamitos boys brought in some good times. Freshmen AC Wellsand raced a time of (17:18) and Samuel Pareti ran (17:52). Sophomore Charlie Nelson raced (17:28) followed by Travis Regnier (17:53). The JV boys were led by Jaxon Nguyen (18:11) and Luke Malley (18:24). Seniors Paul Dunbar ran (17:37) following close behind was Jordan Jameson (17:53). The boy’s varsity was led by Lon Monk (16:13) and Matthew Mayhue (17:01).
Head Coach Mark Celestin said this is one of the toughest and biggest races the team will run this season. Going into this race the runners knew it would be challenging due to the elite competition, but the Griffins raced some fast times and gained an incredible experience.
