Sophomore Kristen Rivera

Last Saturday, the girls cross country team rallied together to win the CIF Division III State Meet and Woodward Park in Fresno. This win marks the girls cross country seventh state title, and repeat win after winning state the previous year.

The girls finished the 5000 meter course (3.2 miles) with 76 points, ahead of rival Orange Lutheran by five points.

“This has been our dream since freshman year,” said team captains Sarah Keddington and Marissa Cummings, on winning the state meet.

Running against twenty two other teams, the girls were hungry for a win after taking second behind Orange Lutheran at the CIF Finals by three points.

“Both races were really close, the difference between those points can be a margin of one to two runners. And the course was freezing!” said team captains Sarah Keddington and Marissa Cummings.

Senior and team captain Melanie Powers lead the team with a time of 17:56 taking 3^rd. Seniors Kristina Funahashi and Ali Hummelberg ran pivotal times. Kristina Funahashi ran an incredibly fast race and was also able to beat her own PR, personal record. Ali Hummelberg saved some big points for the team by passing multiple runners on the last stretch to the finish line.

Due to their spectacular win at Fresno, the girl cross country team has been invited to run in Portland Oregon, at the Nike Cross Nationals. The girls will be competing against 22 other teams (154 athletes) at the Portland Meadows, a repurposed horse track. The man made 5k course features three loops and obstacles. Since it is in Portland, a city notorious for its rain fall, there is a possibility of adverse weather. The girls, however, have already taken this into account.

“We are expecting the course to be completely muddy, but we’re not quite so sure about the hay bales and other obstacles…” said Seniors Marissa Cummings and Sarah Keddington.

Their race is at 11:35 AM on Saturday, and they will be running as the Newport Beach XC Club of California. Click here to watch live streaming footage .

For more information visit Dystat or Nike Cross Nationals
Photo credit to Margaret Gallagher at Dyestat

CIF State Meet Results
Melanie Powers 17:56 3rd place
Kristina Funahashi 18:18 7th place
Marisa Cummings 18:27 13th place
Kristen Rivera 18:45 28th place
Ali Hummelberg 18:54 34th place
Ashlee Powers 19:00 43rd place
Sarah Keddington 19:22 72nd place

On concrete, dirt, and asphalt, the CdM Cross Country team persevered to place first in five of the six races at the Pacific Coast League Finals in Irvine Regional Park.

The course is fast and quick and virtually flat. While an overall road race, the course runs scenically through the park and woodland areas nearby. The course is further quicker due to the fact that it starts on a downhill and features only one uphill, ending with a fast downhill to finish. Due to this fact the majority of the racers were at their best. Senior Julien Crockett said on the topic of the course, “I always enjoy running on this course because of the diverse terrain, even though it can be a bit hot. It was good to see the hard work paying off for the team.”

The Girls Varsity Team placed first by a margin of 50 points over second place University, taking first, second, and third place respectively. While the Varsity Boys placed third overall, behind Beckman and University. Both teams will move on to CIF Prelims November 14 at Mt. Sac.

Times/Results (top seven finishers)

Varsity Girls (First with 20 points)
Melanie Powers: 16:59 Pacific Coast League Champion
Marisa Cummings: 17:17 2nd place
Kristina Funahashi: 17:32 3rd place
Ashleee Powers: 17:46 6th place
Shelby Perez: 18:08 8th place
Sarah Keddington: 18:20 10th place
Ali Hummelberg: 18:31

Varsity Boys (Third with 63 points)
Austin Barvin: 15:23 6th place
Blake Myers: 15:37 11th place
Sebastien Welch: 15:37 12th place
Derek Satterfield: 15:46 15th place
Alex Turney: 15:49 19th place
Peter Morris: 16:05 22nd place
Kjell Wolker: 16:06 23rd place

JV Girls (First with 21 points, won by a margin of 32 points)
Amanda Garrett: 18:54 Girls JV League Champ
Christine Light: 20:00 2nd place
Allie Garrett: 20:09 4th place
Madison Turner: 20:36 6th place
Sarah Light: 20:45 8th place
Devon Hoppe: 20:46 9th place
Rachael Somerville: 21:22 12th place

JV Boys (First with 58 points, finishing in front of Uni by two points)
Zac Asdourian: 16:33 5th place
Chris Burke: 16:47 9th place
Julien Crockett: 16:51 10th place
Sam Parks: 17:02 14th place
James Seals: 17:21 20th place
Cole Satterfield: 17:40 27th place
Miguel Rivero: 18:33 33rd place

Fresh/Soph Girls (First with 19 points, won by a margin of 37 points)
Kristen Rivera: 18:29 Pacific Coast League Champ
Darcie Marshall: 18:59 3rd place
Megan Zwerling: 18:59 4th place
Sarah Hoppe: 19:22 5th place
Sara Silverman: 19:23 6th place
Marika Gerken: 19:29 7th place
Nica Sabouni: 19:40 13th place

Fresh/Soph Boys (First with 50 points, finishing in front of San Juan Hills by three points)
Michael Keasey: 16:34 2nd place
Teddy Parks: 16:50 7th place
Jake Woodyard: 17:04 11th place
Dylan Gronendyke: 17:13 14th place
Troy Hardy: 17:21 16th place
Spencer Christoff: 17:47 26th place
Nick Furgatch: 17:52 27th place

The course is well known, and the competition is all too familiar, yet each cross-country cluster meet presents a new challenge. Last Thursday the CdM cross-country team battled it out with the other five teams in the Pacific Coast League in the second cluster meet of the season at Mason Park.
“I was really happy about this race because the weather was perfect and everyone seemed to do really well,” said junior Peyton Wolonsky.
After weeks of hot weather the athletes were blessed with clouds covering the sun and low temperatures. With the luck of great racing conditions, runners were ready to race their best. As the last meet before League Finals all the athletes made it their goal to work their hardest and set a new personal record.
“Everyone worked really hard because they wanted to do their best in one of the last meets. I have never seen so many people set a new personal record in one meet,” said junior Sarah Light.
With almost every athlete setting a new personal record the scores for each race were also in CdM’s favor.
Frosh/soph boys won their race with 45 points and frosh/soph girls did the same with 18 points. Junior varsity boys and girls also won their races with 38 and 20 points respectively. Varsity boys ranked third in their race with 58 points and varsity girls took first with 23 points.
“After this race I have a good feeling that we are going to do well at League Finals,” said Light.
Pacific Coast League Finals are this Thursday at Irvine Park, a course that is also very familiar to the athletes, which seems to be a good omen. Hopefully CdM will keep up their hard work and win the league title.

Out of breath and feeling doubt about reaching the last mile, you mentally want to stop the race but your body keeps on moving. Each step begins to hurt but the adrenaline rush is too tremendous to quit. Welcome to the crazy sport of cross-country.
With the official cross-country season just beginning, CdM has already made it’s mark. The 29th Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic helped CdM prove that they have what it takes to be champions this year.
“Woodbridge is a really flat course, so it’s a fast race. We had a lot of people running personal records,” said junior Sarah Light.
Woodbridge was more of an individual race since athletes ran by grade level instead of the usual varsity, junior varsity, and frosh/soph levels. Despite this, CdM athletes ran extremely well.
“The girl’s team is very strong. We are an extremely deep team and we have about 20 girls that can break 21 minutes, which is pretty impressive,” said Light. The senior girls came in first place out of 24 teams and Melanie Powers led the race triumphantly. Sophomore girls joined the senior girls in winning their race as well. Junior and freshman girls finished second and sixth respectively.
As the girls completed their cool downs, it was time for the boys to show what they were made of.
“The race went well overall. We put three guys sub 16 minutes, which the guys team hasn’t done in a while, and as a whole we put seven under 17minutes,” said senior Sebastian Welch. The senior boys placed seventh out of 22 teams. The junior boys won their race and the sophomore boys finished eighth. Lastly, the freshmen boys completed the race in second place.
As shown by the records set in the Woodbridge meet, CdM should expect a lot from the cross-country team this year.
“We expect one of our strongest seasons on the men’s side this year in recent history. We have tons of fresh talent and a lot of enthusiasm to do well this year. We are aiming to be League Champions this year and make it to the State meet as well,” said Welch.
With the Stanford Invitational meet coming up soon, the varsity runners will be able to work together as a team and become one step closer to winning state this year!