On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Varsity Cross Country team traveled to Orange County, CA for the 43rd Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic. Collectively, they competed in a total of four races, with seven boys and two girls in the sweepstakes races and two boys and eight girls in the varsity races.
In the sweepstakes race, the team placed eighth in a stacked field of nationally ranked teams including the first, sixth and eighth ranked teams. Senior Owen Powell led the team and broke the three-mile national record by nine seconds with a time of 13:30.3.
“I just really was locked in during the summer and I think it really ended up paying off today [during the race],” Powell said while reflecting on his race.
On the girls’ side, sisters Sophia and Victoria Rodriguez competed in the sweepstakes race, placing seventh and tenth respectively against some of the top runners in the country. Victoria, a senior who is on The Islander staff, has committed to run Division I Cross Country and Track and Field at Wake Forest University.
“I think it went really good, I started out strong at the start and it was a big group of people on the line and I had a really good first mile and I think that set me up well for the rest of the race, and obviously finishing tenth is a crazy big accomplishment because of how deep the field was,” Victoria Rodriguez said.
The team also brought two boys and eight girls to compete in the varsity races. As a team, the girls placed fifth and had two runners in the top 20. The varsity boys race had two sophomores, Bridge Gerry and Finn Bunker, who placed 49th and 50th respectively. The varsity girls were led to a fifth place finish by freshman Lauren Balousek, another member of The Islander staff, who placed eighth overall with a time of 17:49.2.
“[The race went] pretty good, I wasn’t expecting to do how I did, it was super fun, just seeing how I did alongside a stacked field,” Balousek said.
Come cheer on the Cross Country team at their meet this Wednesday at Luther Burbank Park.
