Cross Country Looking to Make Impact


After achieving great results from the Early Eagle Invitational at Brentwood School on Sept. 8, and The Woodbridge Invitational at Orange County Great Park on Sept. 18, the Cross Country team has made great advancements so far in their season.   The co-ed Cross Country team consists of 20 runners, who practice every day after school and on several Saturdays for two hours.. According to Team Captain Aidan Ramey (‘16), the team runs each practice along the streets of Rinaldi, Canoga, Mason, and Chatsworth. Accompanying them each practice is Head Coach Troy Samuels and Assistant Coach Joseph Pflieger.

“Both the boys and the girls teams are doing extremely well. The girls are showing lots of promise for an amazing season because they have a large team and the returners are strong runners,” Samuels said.

According to Samuels, both teams have improved greatly at both of their first two meets. At the Early Eagle Invitational, the girls team finished in a close second place, only four points behind the first place team, while the boys finished third overall.

Zoe Fleck (‘18) had the best individual placement for the girls, finishing third overall while Brandon Rudolph (‘17) had the best individual placement for the boys, finishing 17th overall. At the Woodbridge Invitational, both teams once again did well.

Fleck had the best performance for the girls as she placed in the Top 20 and received a medal. For the boys, Rudolph and Jake Dalton (‘19) had the best performances for the boys as both crossed the finish line at 18 minutes and 56 seconds.

“It felt great to earn a medal at the Woodbridge meet since I also got one last year at this meet,” Fleck said.

Both teams’ goals are to improve each week as each race they run is a different course. Ultimately, the long term goal is to be able to qualify for the CIF preliminaries in November.

“I hope to continue to have a great season and continually improve myself and to keep getting faster. Also, I want to help my teammates any way I can,” Ramey said.

The Bell Jeff Invitational at Griffith Park on Set. 26th will be the team’s next meet.

Brianna Oard