Season News & Highlights
November Update: On November 5th, our Cross Country team headed up to Cal State San Marcos to compete at the Conference Championships to finish off their regular season. 4 Men and 5 Women set out to make their presence known and finish off the season on a high note.
On the Women’s side, our Lady Lions ran the best team time in our school’s history! Every runner posted either a personal or season best time! In addition, they placed 5th overall out of 8 teams. Our front runners were Freshmen Lauren Clemens clocking in a time of 19:38 and Sophomore Rose Codilla following closely with a time of 20:53 over at 5K course. “It was exciting to watch and they all encouraged one another!”-Coach Freeman
The Men’s team did equally well placing 5th out of 9 teams overall. Freshmen Nick Spector from Sonoma High School ran a spectacular race placing 6th overall. Not only did he run a personal best time of 25:33 over an 8K course, but he also clinched a spot and qualified to run at the Nationals Championship. At the end of this week, Spector will travel to Vancouver, Washington to compete. “… Nick had an unbelievable race – he had a fire in his eyes,” Coach Freeman. Senior Team Captain Nick Stairinieri also put in a very strong performance and ran strong. “Nick is a great leader and continually inspired the rest of the team throughout the season. He set a great example of hard work for others to follow.”-Coach Freeman & Boivon. For both the Men and Women’s team, at the beginning of the season they were off to a rocky start but they found their stride at the right time and finished the season strong. Great job to everyone and good luck Nick at Nationals!
October Update: The Men’s & Women’s Cross Country Team took a detour in their seasonal meet schedule to give back to the community on September 25 and participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. The SUA men’s team swept 1st -5th place with our very own assistant coach, Patrick Boivin clocking in the fastest overall race time out of 22,000 participants. And Sophomore Lauren Chung placed third overall in the event as well! The team is continuously raising funds the entire month of October and accepting any proceeds to help provide free mammograms. Please consider making a donation and stop by their table in the dining hall.
Shortly after, the team trekked to Costa Mesa to run in the Vanguard Invitational. Although it was a challenging course with a really big, steep hill, both the men’s and women’s team ran well. “It was a great team effort,” Head Coach Freeman commented. Freshmen Nick Spector from Sonoma High School, placed in the top 15 and the rest of the team ran solid on a tough course. “They have a lot of potential with room to improve. We’re halfway through the season and everyone is continually working hard and pushing themselves. We hope that by the end of the season they will see all the fruits of their labor.”- Head Coach Freeman.
September Update: Our Men’s & Women’s Cross Country team opened their season at one of the largest meets in the region, the UC Irvine Invite. They are coming into this season with a much smaller squad due to graduation and study abroad. Nevertheless, despite these numbers the team they are a tight knit, hard working group push each another in practice week to week. Although they are a young squad with only 1 senior, they established a lot of camaraderie and strength that gives them much hope for a strong season. At the invite, they were challenged by Mother Nature and dealt with rain, lightning, and much thunder. Despite these elements stayed dedicated and mentally tough. “This was a good starting point. We’re still working on getting in shape for a long season ahead of us. This invite was a good reference to where we are and what we need to do to get to where we want to go.” Assistant Cross Country Coach, Patrick Bolvin.
