By Lee Rodriguez, Special to the Independent
The Laguna Beach High School girls’ cross- country team ran their first race of the season at the Laguna Hills Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 8. Sophomore Livie Clark lead Laguna’s sophomore team to a second place finish by placing fifth overall with a time of 19:29, for the hilly three mile course. Janie Crawford followed behind at 20:16, Carlee Ressler 20:27, Kate Grayden 21:12, Natalie Kimball 21:31, Amy Hewlett 21:43, and Julia Nassiell rounded out the top seven with a time of 22:26.
In the juniors’ race, Audrey Rodriguez finished seventh overall with a time of 20:37 to help the juniors team to a fifth place finish, followed by Eliza Romero 21:21, Monica White 22:31, Anika Larsen 24:56, Makena Pitz 24:57, and Andrea Gosslett at 26:22.
In the freshman race, Pearl Shoemaker finished 10th overall with a time of 20:56, followed by Maddy Kristensen 21:25 and Christen Edit at 29;26.
Senior Rachel Young finished with a time of 25:44.
Coach Steve Lalim said, “the girls ran a great race. It was a fantastic start to their season. Now we need to continue to work and improve.”
The team’s next race is at a Dana Hills Invitational and the varsity race at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto.
Lee Rodriguez is a high school parent.