The Laguna Beach girls’ cross-country team ran a school course record to finish second out of 31 teams at the Clovis Invitational last Saturday, Oct. 12, in Fresno. Their team time of 1:37:42 shattered the old mark of 1:39:00 set by the ’09 Breakers.
Junior Janie Crawford finished 13th overall to lead Laguna. Her time of 19:13 was a personal course record, and the third fastest time by a Laguna girl on the 5K Woodward Park course, the site of next month’s CIF State Finals.
Only Natasha Strickland’s 18:56 as a senior in ‘11 and Alex Crawley’s 18:55 as a junior in ‘04 were better. The next three finishers for Laguna also set PRs. And all five scorers ran under 20 minutes, ranking them among Laguna’s top 13 all-time at Woodward Park.
Junior Brenna Merchant finished three seconds behind Crawford and 15th overall with a time of 19:16, tying her for fourth all time with Lindsay Buwalda (’96). Junior Natalie Kimball (19:33, 20th) and senior Eliza Romero (19:41, 28th) moved into the seventh and eighth spots on the all-time list. Sophomore Pearl Shoemaker (19:59, 43rd) is now ranked 13th.
Freshmen Greer Jacobs (20:13, 54th) and Bailey Shoemaker (21:38, 106th) rounded out the varsity seven for Laguna.
The boys finished fifth out of 30 teams, led by junior Cameron Zuziak, who ran a personal record 15:54 to take seventh out of 216 runners. He was followed by senior Casey Koprowski, whose 16:41 was also a PR and good enough for 27th overall.
Sophomores Drake Butler (16:46, 31st) and Mason Pitz (17:03, 55th), and senior Veda Rebollar (17:27, 73rd) rounded out the scoring five for Laguna. Junior Grant Barton (17:32, 83rd) and senior Ian Ring (17:47, 109th) finished sixth and seventh for the Breakers.
Both teams compete next at the Orange County Championships Saturday, Oct. 18 at Irvine Regional Park.
