Los Alamitos cross country teams had strong showings at the Central Park Invitational in Huntington Beach on Saturday.
The Griffins’ girls varsity team took fourth place overall in the 40th annual event of the run that drew runners from more than two dozen schools. Sophomore Kaitlyn McQuillen led the varsity squad with a seventh place overall finish in a time of 18 minutes, 46.3 seconds. Sophomore Hallie Muniz also had a solid time, finishing 14th overall in 19:00.9.
Junior Sydnie Lobo was the third finisher for the Griffins, taking 21st overall. Rounding out the Griffins top five runners were Chrysti Takayesu and Olivia Bettinger.
The Griffin boys varsity took seventh overall in the team scoring, finishing just one point behind Warren High Long Beach. Junior Zachary Nakada led the team with a 20th overall finish in a time of 16:10.6. Junior Daniel Mastick was the Griffins No. 2 finisher with a 28th overall finish in 16:20.6. Michael Sandoval and Tyler Austin finished 39th and 40th, respectively and Aaron Ibarra rounded out the top five for the Griffins with a 51st overall finish.
The Griffins girls freshman team won their division race, with five runners finishing in the top 12. Bryn Pagett led the team with a fourth place overall finish in 22:03.5. Hayden Nguyen and Natalie Lobo finshed fifth and sixth overall and Thalia Griffith and Lexi Smith were 11th and 12th overall.
The junior varsity girls team also took fourth in their division, led by Sierra Erlandson and Amanda Ferguson, who took 16th and 17th overall, respectively.
Bailey Nadell was 20th and Lauren Kim took 24th overall.
Photos by Ted Apodaca