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Girls’ Roster with Season Bests

Men’s Roster with Season Bests

Banquet Pictures

CIF Team Rankings (before Finals)

#1
 

San Marino Girls Cross Country
Rio Hondo League Champions

These girls surprised La Canada’s defending championship team in the first league meet by going 2-3-6 and winning the meet by 5 points. But, the second league meet appeared to right the Spartan ship with a big 17 point win.  Our girls took third place.  There was no reason to believe that they would be competing for anything other than second place.  Did they ever show up for League Finals!  Four girls under 20 minutes on Lacy.  Whooooaaaaa.  And, it wasn’t even close as our girls went 2-3-6-7-12 to win by 12.  Truly, a team victory.  First championship since 1999.  Congratulations on a historic season.

#2

Men Look Like Champions in October

2013 was one of those rare years in which you have enough hard-working guys that you can field a team where each one can break 17 minutes on the Lacy Park course on the same day.  That kind of performance will win league championships.  And more.  But, there are also years in which such high promise doesn’t hold up into November.  This was one of those years.  Regardless, the men won the first two league meets.  Easily.  And, they ran the fastest SMXC team time at Lacy since at least 1999.  Hopefully, these are the experiences that build character.

#3

Olivia and the Girls at CIF Finals

This was the race they had been building for - CIF Finals.  They had started out the season with big races and moved to a #7 ranking.  But, a couple of their athletes were not SAC runners.  Including sophomore Olivia Harrigian.  A poor outing at the Mt. SAC Invitational had her doubting herself as the Prelims loomed.  In that Prelims race, she found the right strategy and rhythm and broke 20 minutes on the course, a huge jump over her previous performance.  With the monkey off her back, she now had a strategy for SAC and used it in the Finals to clock a 19:16 and lead the girls to an 8th place finish, just a few points shy of a trip to Fresno.

#4

#5

#6
 

Looking for Ms. Right

The girls team were solid champions in the first 4 positions.  But, they needed a fifth in order to move to the next level (State).  The #5 candidates dominated the JV race at the Top Speed Classic and State seemed within reach.

#7

#8

#9

A Time To Bond

All work and no play makes cross country, well, no stinking fun,  So, the team takes a road trip every year.  No, we’re not talking about a bus trip to Mt. SAC or to Santa Fe Dam.  A real road trip.  Like to San Diego.  Yes, there is a race involved but these trips are not defined by the race but by the opportunity for the athletes to get to know each other.  Away from the usual structures that separate them at home.  Like age and cliques and gender.  When you see each other at 7 in the morning for breakfast, the inhibitions get pushed aside and bonds form.  Teams form.

#10

Girls Were Just Tough

Sept 7 (Bosco Tech Invitational) - It turned out to be a harbinger of the season to come.  The girls dominated the opening meet, going 1-8-9-11-18-19-21 to win by 41 over the next nearest competitor, Xavier Prep.  Olivia won the race.  Not many season openers say so much about a team.