Girls Headed Back to State

0
695

Boys Streak Ends at Eight

Senior Natasha Strickland nears the one-mile mark on her way to a school record time at CIF finals. Photo by Robert Campbell

The girls cross country squad secured its place in the record books last Saturday at CIF finals, running the fastest team time in school history on the hilly course at Mt. SAC in Walnut. Having fallen short last season, the Breakers 1:38:11 earned them a fifth place finish overall and a ticket to state finals this Saturday, Nov. 24. As the only two members of the varsity seven to have competed at state, seniors Natasha Strickland and Marissa Merchant inspired their young teammates on their quest to return to Fresno’s Woodward Park.

 

With a team-leading time of 18:29, Strickland made some history of her own, becoming the fastest Laguna girl ever at Mt. SAC, breaking the old mark of 18:31 held by Alex Crawley (’04) and Lindsay Buwalda (’96). She finished seventh overall to earn all-CIF honors.

 

Freshman Janie Crawford (19:23) and sophomore Eliza Romero (19:43) joined Strickland to become the first Laguna trio to break the 20-minute mark in the same race at Mt. SAC. Merchant (20:00) and freshman Carlee Ressler (20:36) completed the scoring five. Sophomore’s Kay Baskevitch (20:49) and Monica White (21:21) finished sixth and seventh for the Breakers. All seven girls set personal course records.

 

The boys struggled to a 14th place finish and saw their string of eight straight trips to Fresno come to a disappointing end. Senior Jeff White placed 23rd overall in 16:15 to lead the Breakers. Juniors Mitch Kimball (62nd) and Jack Crawford (63rd), and seniors Ryan Jones (82nd) and Tyler Nichols (88th) finished well back to complete the scoring for Laguna.

 

 

 

 

Share this:

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here