The Los Alamitos High School Griffin Cross Country team started their season off with a bang last week at the Great Cow Invitational at John Glenn High School. Competing against 20 other teams and over 1,500 runners the Griffin’s won the Sweepstakes award as top team on the girls side and great races on the boys side highlighted by the Freshman boys taking their championship.
On the girl’s side the Varsity team took second place led by top performances by Alee Reyburn, Caris Honma, Trista Candiotty, Chelsea Estrada and Maddie Heenan scoring, closely followed by Lindsey Flynn and Serena Peterson. Not to be out done the JV team won the championship led by Amina Farki, Chiara De Lorenzo, Siena Laws, Sophia Martini and Kayla Mellott. Matching them was the Sophomore girls racing to the championship led by Bella Castellon, Remy Hoang, Riley Kuhlendahl, Emma Jimenez and Lauren Criscione.
The Freshman girls got off to a great start finishing with the bronze medal – led by Mio Emi, Michele Wellsand, Soiyer Johnston, Abby Caddell, and Avalynn Alexander.
On the boys side the varsity ran a great race taking 11th led by Matthew Mayhue, Charlie Nelson, Garrett Bantle, Aidan Hamilton, Luke Malley, Travis Regnier, and Dane Stillovich.
The JV boys finished 4th led by Dean Lehigh, Daniel Li, Garrett Stillovich, Kia Rolland-engel and Joaquin Gonzalez. The Sophomore boys finished 5th led by Jaden Cooks, Chris Eng, Abraham Granados, Hoss Harman and Kiran Zacheis. The top boys team was our Freshman boys winning their championship led by Will Lieras, Kent Inanaga, Dylan Lobo, Tyler Tanimura, and Will Thomas.
Next up for the Griffin Frosh/Soph and JV runners is the Laguna Hills Invitational where they will race against 35 teams, while the Varsity and Seniors go on their annual “Weekend Reward Trip” to race at the Morro Bay Invitational and spend a fun weekend kayaking, enjoying beach time and a team tour of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.