On Oct. 17, at Crescenta Valley Park, Arcadia and six other schools, including Crescenta Valley, Pasadena, Burroughs, Glendale, Hoover, and Burbank, went head to head in both the girls and boys three-mile Frosh/Soph, JV, and Varsity Cross Country races.

In the Frosh/Soph girls race, the team scores ended with Burroughs placing 1st, Burbank 2nd, Crescenta Valley 3rd, and Arcadia 4th. Despite getting 4th place, Arcadia made sure to catch up in the next few races. “The course was quite hard because there were so many hills, but I am glad because this experience will prepare me for the next race,” said sophomore Ella Yee. 

Despite the steep hills, the boys’ Frosh/Soph race went more smoothly, with the order being Crescenta Valley, Burbank, Arcadia, Burroughs, and Pasadena. Only five points away from scoring 2nd place, sophomore Andy Zhang placed 7th out of 123 people, which gave a huge lead in points. 

Although the JV girls didn’t have enough people to score officially, Anica Maninang placed 5th, Gina Madruga finished at 6th, and Britney Chieng ended at 11th place.

In the JV boys race, Arcadia placed 3rd out of four teams, with Crescenta Valley being 1st, Burbank coming in 2nd, and Pasadena ending last. As senior Aryan Fu stated, “It was really hard due to the fact that there was so much dust and multiple rolling hills. I am proud that I achieved my goal.” The top three of our Apaches, Joshua Fan, Daniel Soriano, and Aryan Fu finished 5th, 7th, and 9th. 

The Varsity girls placed 4th out of the six teams with Crescenta Valley being 1st, Burbank, Burroughs, Pasadena, and Glendale. Finishing strong, senior Kira Graves, junior Katarina Weisinger, junior Natalia Grogan, junior Neha Athavale, and senior Piper Kamae  finished 16th, 17th, 18th, 21st, and 28th place with a difference of a couple of seconds.

Finally, the Varsity boys placed 3rd out of seven teams, with Crescenta Valley placing 1st. Senior Jacob Hsu and junior Tianyuan Pei finished 3rd and 4th out of 49 people, while senior Ryan Chan, sophomore William Kelley, junior Matthew Ho, junior Quinn Hettich, and junior Benjamin Garcia took places 13th, 17th, 21st, 29th, and 33rd. “It was a good race and we had perfect weather that day. We got back from a hard week of training, so [our] legs were tired,” stated Tianyuan Pei. 

The Pacific League Meet marks the halfway point of the season. In spite of the dusty trail and endless hills, our Apaches ran well under the pressure. Good job Apaches, and good luck to the rest of your season!