LAKEWOOD, CA — Last weekend, on Saturday, Sept. 3, the Los Alamitos High School Cross Country Team made a strong debut at their first race, the Great Cow Invitational. Despite some major headwinds, Griffins were able to carry many of their races against fierce competition from the likes of Milikan, Tustin, and Cerritos high schools.

Weather had a large impact on the scheduling of the race. Temperature was as high as 91 ºF. And, to make matters worse, there was 62% humidity. Albeit, as the day went on, humidity leveled down 43%. Nonetheless, the meet went on. Unfortunately for runners, the revised schedule was far more time condensed and implemented some non-standard practices. In a normal cross country event, the prior race must finish before a new wave of runners begin. But, because the new schedule was more condensed, new races would begin before all runners crossed the finish line. This caused some awkward moments for runners; many had to dodge others running different races. To add to the irregularities, the sophomore girl runners were not allotted enough time to complete the typical 5k distance. Instead, their distance was reduced to 1.7 miles. JV races for both boys and girls were canceled too. JV runners either ran in the varsity or sophomore heats.

Unrelated to the revised schedule, police activity in the area delayed the boys varsity race by about 15 minutes. Runners were at the line ready to start when meet organizers were alerted and subsequently postponed the race. When asked about the delay, Kenji Swun, a senior on the Varsity Boys team, said “I don’t think it had a significant effect on me, but I did feel like it made me a little uneasy.”

Many runners thought that the heat and course paired to form an unsavory race. The Great Cow Invitational consisted of two loops around Artesia High School. Runners started at the end zone of the football field, then running to the left corner of the turf and onto the track. Crowding was a major problem, as the start area was narrow. After 900 meters, runners exited the track and headed towards the tennis courts. Like the start, the areas surrounding the tennis courts were narrow. People either pushed their ways forward or fell to the back of the pack. The remaining stretch of the course was on grass, either at the front of the school or the back field. Questionably, the school ran their sprinkler system before the races. Unfortunately for runners in earlier heats, that meant mud. Most runners thought that the field had too many holes.

Because the race consisted of two laps, many thought that the course was boring. Others thought that the heat made the course almost unbearable. Furthermore, many runners had to stop mid-run. Some other heat related technicalities occurred.

Cross country scoring is similar to golf; the lowest score wins. The top seven runners get points for their team. Points are allocated by place. For example, if a person gets second, they get two points. However, once a team’s seventh runner crosses the finish line, points are allocated a place down. For example, if a person receives 15 points for their team, but place 17th, that means two runners did not qualify for points.

Los Alamitos High School did well at the Great Cow Invitational. Two varsity boys, Daniel Mastick and Zachary Nakada, were the first to break the 16 minute barrier since the start of the pandemic. Both the freshman and varsity girls teams won their divisions. Freshman girls were led by Chelsea Estrada, followed by a strong pack featuring Sophia Criscione, Phoebe Grimshaw, Swaysa Kadiam, and Sicely Johnston. Leading the varsity girls was Stevie Holquin, finishing at a swift 18:10.8 in fourth place, followed close behind by Trista Candiotty.

Freshman and sophomore coach, Maria Halfhill, was proud of her runners’ efforts. Halfhill said that despite the new runners being nervous, “It was good to see them come out and just work together, and they raced really hard.”