First published in the Nov. 20 print issue of the Glendale News Press.
The Crescenta Valley High School varsity cross-country teams punched their ticket to the CIF Southern Section Division I finals after solid performances in the preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut last week.
With temperatures surpassing 90 degrees, the boys managed to turn in a stellar performance in their heat with 63 points and placed second behind San Clemente, which tallied 61 points.
Senior Rowan FitzGerald shone in the race and won with a time of 15 minutes, 40.9 seconds. Junior teammate Parker Simmons wasn’t far behind to take second place in 15:41.1. Bryce Bitetti finished in 16:22.6 for 16th place, Luke Cheney crossed the finish line in 16:25.5 for 18th place, Ruben Perez was 33rd with a time of 16:58.1, Jamie Cartnal posted a time of 17:09.9 for 39th and Harrison Connors placed 43rd with a time of 17:22.7.
The girls also shone in the prelims, posting a score of 82 points to place third behind Newbury Park and Eastvale Roosevelt.
Senior Reese Sion paced the Falcons with a time of 19:21.1, placing her sixth, and Rebecca Doherty recorded 20:26.6 for 18th place. Taili Sherwood-Kong wasn’t far behind her teammate to take 20th place with a time of 20:31.1, Emma Haworth finished in 20:33.6 for 22nd place, Paloma Elfassi was 24th after posting 20:44.5, and Emilia Greenway (20:51.5) and Ava Martin (20:52.1) placed 26th and 27th, respectively.
