It had been about a month since Crescenta Valley junior Emilia Greenway won her last cross-country meet, and at the prestigious 44th annual Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno on Oct. 7, she accomplished much more.
Greenway won the girls’ extra-large schools division race, finishing in 18 minutes, 7.2 seconds, nearly 30 seconds ahead of the runner-up finisher.
The junior previously won the Moorpark Invitational on Sept. 8 at Arroyo Vista Park in Moorpark with a time of 18:39.2.
With Woodward Park being the site of next month’s CIF State Cross Country Championships, results at the Clovis Invitational can provide athletes with a litmus test for the rest of the season.
In last week’s meet, Greenway finished ahead of Rancho Cucamonga junior Nicole Alfred, who clocked in at 18:37.4, and third-place finisher Hannah Budd, a sophomore at Carson High School who crossed the finish line in 18:43.4.
Greenway’s winning effort helped the Falcons finish seventh overall with 228 points and a team time of 1:39:57. Sacramento-based Oak Ridge High School won the event with 120 points and a team finish of 1:38:11.
Falcons junior Kaitlin Kenney finished in 19:18.7 in 14th, senior Elizabeth Corrigan followed in 30th in 19:50.2, sophomore Brooklyn Oka in 96th in 21:19.8, freshman Naiya Rothermund in 98th in 21:20.9, senior Samantha Talbot in 103rd in 21:23.7, and junior Addison Medina in 196th in 22:52.8.
The Falcons boys’ team, meanwhile, finished 10th overall with 301 points in the Rob Brenner division of the meet. The group collectively clocked in at 1:20:30.
Falcons senior Arlo Gagnon was the first to cross the finish line for the team, finishing in 15:50.8 in 48th place.
Following Gagnon was senior Ryan Becker (16:04.9, 66th), senior Joshua Chambers (16:10.3, 73rd), senior Eddie Sion (16:10.7, 77th), senior Luke Myers (16:12.8, 82nd), junior Liam Zadoorian (16:27.5, 103rd) and sophomore Caleb Burton (16:46.2, 127th).
Dana Hills won the meet, carding 124 and finishing 1:17:32 overall.
The CIF Cross Country State Championships will take place on Nov. 25. At last season’s state competition, the Falcons boys’ team reached the podium for the first time in program history, finishing third.
First published in the October 14 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
