By Nancy Azzam

Our Granada Hills Charter (GHC) Cross-Country team has taken their talents far and wide in the last month traveling to Portland, Oregon, and Clovis, California. The Portland and Nike Clovis Invitationals have allowed both our girls’ and boys’ teams to showcase their talents in these five-kilometer races. 

The Nike Portland Invitational at Blue Lake Regional Park is the only out-of-state race our cross-country team participates in. The competition sees multiple schools from across the United States including teams from Oregon, Washington, and Nevada in attendance.  

In Portland, on September 28 the teams excelled greatly with most of the girls attaining new personal records or many taking part in this kind of race for the very first time. Our boy’s team faced some slight struggles, running around half a mile over the required amount but were still able to show immense grit. 

“During the boy’s race, the runners in the lead took a wrong turn, causing everyone in the race to run the course differently from what we were expected to do,” senior and varsity runner Christopher Kajiwara said. “We ended up running extra mileage, around 5.8 kilometers instead of 5 kilometers.” 

The boy’s team placed 13th out of 28 schools and the girls placed 11th out of 14 schools. The best results were seen by junior Sophia Battle who placed 26th and senior Daniel Rameriez who placed 13th.  

The team more recently participated in the ASICS Clovis XC Invitational on October 12 in Clovis, California which was the second and last varsity-only race for our team. This race is especially important because its location is where the California state finals will be held, giving many runners the experience of the course for the first time to help them prepare for the CIF state competition. 

”Clovis was fun, I did really well and got good placement,” sophomore and varsity runner Aiden Matul Barrios said. “I wasn’t nervous since I raced for fun and not necessarily to place well but when we started I got pushed to the back and had to move up roughly 30 total places during the race in my last mile. I passed over 11 and I think it was my fastest. It was a cool learning experience for me and I can’t wait to go there for states.” 

Our boy’s team was able to place fifth out of 21 schools with Ramirez placing 11th. The girl’s team placed 21st out of 28 schools with their best results coming from junior Samantha Pacheco who placed 21st. 

After these great performances, our runners look forward to their Senior night on November 7 where they hopefully perform to the best of their abilities for the program.

“I think the overall team is performing awesome,” senior and Captain Reece Trice said. “Progress isn’t always linear, but I have seen some great improvements. I have noticed many runners putting in a lot of hard work, effort, and commitment. I think their dedication really shows every time they go to practices and meets where they try their best.”