After a spirited send-off from HCS students, teachers, and cheerleaders, the HCS cross country team traveled to Clark Park in Buena Park, CA last Friday, November 1 to compete in the Olympic League Finals. Athletes from all five league schools raced the 3-mile course under ideal weather conditions in a beautiful setting.

The meet kicked off with an exciting JV boys race, in which our team placed 2nd. Freshmen Michael Minjarez and Diego Solano led the way, finishing 2nd and 4th. They were backed by strong performances from junior Judah Hines and fellow freshman Luis Ramirez, with Michael achieving a personal record (PR).

In the girls race that followed, our varsity team also took 2nd place. Starting in fourth, they steadily moved up, edging out Village Christian by just four points. Four of our top five athletes achieved personal bests, with Carissa King finishing 4th in 21:49 and earning 1st Team All-League honors. Sarah Fletcher and Peyton Chen placed 9th and 11th, respectively, securing 2nd Team All-League honors. Freshman Kayla Brock, who improved her PR by nearly two minutes, was the most improved runner of the day.

The meet culminated in the boys varsity race, with the league title on the line. After a narrow tiebreaker loss to Valley Christian last year, our team was determined to come out on top. As the race began, Valley Christian’s runners took an early lead. However, our team paced themselves strategically and advanced from 4th to 2nd place by the one-mile mark. By the two-mile mark, they were in position to win.

In the final stretch, all seven of our boys gave their all. Alec Fabery took 1st place at 16:24, followed by Alex Saade in 2nd at 16:38, Isaiah Bergara in 5th at 17:07, and Angel Rios in 6th at 17:19. Freshman Max Ceballos anchored the team with a PR of 18:33, finishing 13th out of 35 runners. Joseph Riviera and Aidan Carlos also ran impressive races, with Joseph achieving a personal best of 19:25.

When the points were tallied, our boys team scored 27 points, comfortably surpassing Valley Christian’s 47. This marks only the second cross country league championship in HCS history, the first being in 2019. Alec Fabery was named Olympic League MVP for the second consecutive year, with Alex, Isaiah, and Angel earning 1st Team All-League honors.

Both the boys and girls teams advance to the CIF-SS Prelims at Mt. San Antonio College on Friday, November 15. The team is grateful for the continued support from their families and the HCS community and looks forward to the opportunity to represent HCS.