Unlike most high school sports, cross country results can be interpreted in many different fashions, and San Marino High School Coach Angus Leung was pleased with all of them following the Rio Hondo League’s opening meet that was held last Thursday afternoon at Lacy Park.
Senior Puja Balaji finished in 6th place overall to lead the Lady Titans to a third place finish behind La Cañada and South Pasadena—both of which are ranked in the CIF’s top ten. Balaji scorched the familiar turf on her way to a 19:18 on the three-mile course, followed by sophomore Anya Tang (12th, 20:31), junior Lily Tong (16th, 20:45) junior Peyton Talt (17th, 21:10), junior Karen Lee (19th, 21:20) and senior Katie Wong (28th, 21:58) Six runners from each school compete and the places of the first five finishers is added together for a total team score. The Lady Titans finished third with 70 points, behind La Cañada 1st, 40) and South Pasadena (2nd, 43).
Junior Jonathan Karkafi paced the varsity boys’ squad with an overall 10th place finish in a time of 16:56 and freshman Thai Villaluna was 14th overall in 17:26. Freshman (23rd, 18:07), senior Leighton McBryde (27th, 18:26), junior Tavis Chen (30th, 18:54) and sophomore Ethan Foog (32nd, 19:45) rounded out the Titan regiment as San Marino finished fourth with 104 points. South Pasadena (1st, 30), La Cañada (2nd, 36) and Temple City (3rd, 92) were the top three finishers.
Rankin Repetti ran well for the Titan junior varsity squad, finishing fifth in 18:56.
“We ran some good times,” Leung said. “Many of our runners are showing strong improvement.”
All of San Marino’s harriers will head to Crescenta Valley Park on Tuesday, October 15 at 3:30 p.m. for the second Rio Hondo League meet. The squads return to Lacy Park on Thursday, November 7 for the Rio Hondo League finals. First race is at 1:30 p.m.
