Running Roman Boys Finish
5th in the City
On Saturday, November 17, our Cross Country team competed
in the City Championship at Pierce College.
To get the city championship, the team had to qualify in the league
championship and the city preliminary competition. There are over 50 high schools in Los Angeles, and only the
best ten qualified for the city championships.
Against this elite field, the frosh/soph Roman boys
performed wonderfully, finishing fifth. The
cross country running competitions are scored by taking the finishing places of
a team’s top five runners and adding them up.
The team with the lowest score wins.
In the city championship race the scores were: 1) San Pedro – 40, 2)
Poly – 65, 3) Marshall – 121, 4) Belmont - 125, 5) Los Angeles – 128.
Josias Cerritos, Daniel Rodriguez, Fernando Serrano, Felipe Garcia, Jose
Argueta, Brayan Ramirez, Jose Mateo, Jin Kim and Sergio Vasquez made up the
team. Cerritos performed notably
well, finishing in ninth place overall, earning all-city honors as an
individual.
Earlier in the season, the League Championships took place
on October 31, also at Pierce College. In
this competition, three varsity runners - Angel Rodriguez, Ernest Newton, and
Ledin Damas - earned all-league honors by finishing in the top ten of their
races. In the frosh/soph races,
Felipe Garcia won the league championship, with his teammates right behind:
Fernando Serrano came in second and Daniel Rodriguez finished third.
In the girls division, Shetara Parker finished in eleventh place.
Cross Country is one of the more difficult sports in high
school. The athletes have to run
many miles, and practice everyday. On
some days in practice, the team runs up to ten miles (or forty laps around our
track). The runners also train to
becoming faster, doing countless sprints during practice. In addition to the running, the team also lifts weights and
works out in the swimming pool. In
the end, all the work paid off. Everyone
on the team became faster, and the team improved on its results from last year.
As the season came to an end, the coaches – Mr. Holland and Mr. Parker – were very pleased with the team’s results. The coaches are now looking ahead to the spring track and field season, and next year’s cross country season with great optimism.