Cross Country Runs Bell-Jeff Invitational
JOSHUA THAI Staff Writer
On Sept. 29, the Cross Country team attended the Bell-Jeff Invitational, an annual cross country event hosted at Griffith Park. The course was 2.94 miles long with hills, dirt and grassy surfaces. With league meets coming around the corner, the team hoped to do well at the Bell-Jeff Invitational to fuel them for the meets to come.
“We had gone to practice at Griffith Park several times before the actual race, so most of us knew the course and the fact that it’s one of the hardest races we go to,” sophomore Milan Cambon said, “It has hills on hills and the weather doesn’t normally cooperate.”
In the Girls Red Varsity Jimmy Balders 2.9 Mile Race, Alhambra High’s first event of the day, the team placed third out of 31 teams with seven runners.
Some notable runners in this event include senior Serena Dueñas placing 2nd with a time of 18:45.0, senior Alyssa Romero placing 11th with a time of 19:35.1, and junior Paloma Sanchez placed 20th with a time of 20:12.0. Dueñas, Romero and Sanchez all received medals for placing within the top 50.
Shortly after that event, the Boys Red Varsity 2.9 Mile Race took place. Alhambra High placed 22nd out of 32 teams with seven runners. Out of 196 runners, senior Bryan Albarran placed 82nd with a time of 18:10.6.
Another notable event was in the Girls Red Frosh/Soph 2.9 Mile Race. The team placed fifth out of 17 teams with seven runners. Cambon placed fifth out of 123 runners with a time of 20:47.2. Sophomore Aaliyah Sanchez placed 26th with a time of 23:53.3. Sophomore Maria Romero placed 51st with a time of 25:13.4. Cambon and Sanchez both received medals in this event for placing within the top 50.
In the last event of the day, the Boys Red Junior Varsity 2.9 Mile Race, Alhambra High placed 11th out of 21 teams. Junior Devyn Cowab placed 15th out of 145 runners with a time of 17:50.9. Cowab received a medal in this event for placing within the top 50.
Overall, the boys placed 35th out of 77 schools and the girls placed third out of 75 schools. Alhambra High stood tall in the Bell-Jeff Invitational and were ready for the league meets coming up.
“Our League meet course at Legg Lake is super flat, with almost all of it being packed with dirt,” Cambon said, “So if we could handle the Bell-Jeff Invitational and do well, a lot of the team medaled, we could definitely handle the league meet race.”
The Alhambra High Cross Country team will attend their next meet, the Riverside Invitational, on Oct. 20 at Riverside City.