FINALS: Poly’s cross country season comes to a close with league finals.
By Andrew Carlson, Staff Writer
On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 cross country teams from across Riverside raced in the Inland Valley League Finals. The meet was held at Andulka Park, where representatives from Valley View, Rancho Verde, John W. North, Canyon Springs, Poly, and Arlington competed in the race. Many cross country team members were optimistic about the race, due to the new course and the great “running weather” going into the race. The Andulka course was completely redesigned for the finals, and the team practiced on it a few times to get the feel of it. “Our new course is definitely different but I like the change because it gives us the opportunity to try something new,” Josie Cabrera (9) said. The weather, characterized by an overcast climate in the low 70s, was perfect for the teams to perform well.
The girls’ team, fresh off two league wins, was ready to defend its league title. In the first run of the afternoon, the Junior Varsity girls took seven of the top ten positions. In cross country, the lowest overall score wins. The top five finishers for each school are attributed with points corresponding to their placement. For example, the third place finisher would add three points to their team’s total. The girls scored 17 points. The second place team, Valley View, had 60. Inspired by this dominating performance, Varsity girls also won, by an impressive margin of 31 points. The girls’ Varsity team will move on to California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). “On the girls’ side, [(the result of the season] was pretty much the same [as last year]” Samantha Valencia(10) said.
Next came the Junior Varsity boys’ team, who had previously struggled in the league races, finishing fourth and fifth place. However, this time the JV boys finished third, which would have qualified them for CIF. In all sports, the only teams that move onto CIF are the varsity squads.
In the last race of the day, the fastest runners finished off the finals. The Varsity boys’ team raced, and due to previous meets and qualifications, the winner of this meet would win the league. Successfully defending his throne of fastest runner, Poly’s Deion Molina(12) ran a time of 15:59, outrunning his opponent in the final 400 meters and pulling ahead by an astounding five seconds. Despite his first place finish, Poly finished fourth, just missing the CIF qualifications. Most of the teammates will agree it was a good season and will continue to improve for next year.
“I think the season went fine; we could’ve worked harder at times and pushed ourselves…we missed the chance to go to CIF this year but there is always next year,” LeRenzo Gipson(10) said.