Even if she temporarily goes in the wrong direction on a dusty hillside cross-country course, Amelie Guyot will make sure to quickly regroup.
Looking to get healthy and bidding for a second straight Pacific League championship are on the mind of the Burbank High girls’ athlete, who returned Wednesday to the venue where she achieved a milestone last season.
Guyot turned in an impressive mark of 19 minutes, 35.4 seconds to win the league’s second meet at Crescenta Valley Park.
It took a bit of recovery for the sophomore, who won the league crown last season with a time of 19:59.6 on the same three-mile course.
“I led the whole way, but it was really hard for me,” Guyot said. “It’s a challenging course because there are areas where there are no sign directions. I went the wrong way for a couple of seconds about the midway point and some of the Crescenta Valley runners were telling me I was going the wrong way.
“I was able to get back on track. I was a little tired, but I was able to go downhill on the course and hit my strides. I got a good time and I’m just trying to gradually get better. I’d like to repeat, but there’s a lot of pressure because there are some really good runners here.”
Guyot topped Burroughs’ Isabella Galustians, who took second in 19:53.1.
Crescenta Valley won the girls’ race with 33 points, followed by Burroughs (60), Arcadia (61) and Burbank (73).
“In two or three meets this season, she’s been really fun to watch,” Burbank co-coach Nate Benton said of Guyot. “She gets going and it’s like she’s in her own world. She regrouped well and did what she had to do the rest of the race today.”
In the boys’ portion of the meet, Crescenta Valley finished first with 25 points. Arcadia took second with 35 points, Burroughs and Burbank had 96 points each and Pasadena finished with 132. Burroughs was third by virtue of having the sixth fastest runner versus Burbank.
Parker Simmons of Crescenta Valley finished first in 15:56.8, besting teammate Luke Cheney (16:11.6). The top local finish went to Burbank’s Ricardo Mujica, who placed eighth in 16:40.5.
Burroughs coach John Peebles said Galustians, a sophomore, paved the way again for the Bears.
“She ran a very good race and it’s a hard place to run,” Peebles said. “She’s come a long way and she was able to get under 20 minutes here. Overall with our girls, we have a good top three, but we’re trying to find some others who can help us get some points.”
Burroughs got a fifth-place effort from Vivienne Cannon in 20:04.4, followed by MacKenzie Monahan (eighth, 21:08.4), Madeline Page (26th, 27:27.6) and Makayla Victoria (27th, 28:58.3).
Burbank received an 18th-place performance from Ashley Soto in 22:32.8, followed by Leah Yaghoobov (19th, 22:32.9), Annika Basco (22nd, 26:40.9) and Nicole Mireles (23rd, 27:10).
In the boys’ portion of the meet, Burroughs and Burbank encountered a neck-in-neck battle.
Liam Ellington had the best mark for Burroughs, clocking 18:05.7 for 16th place. Danny Camacho took 17th in 18:06.5, followed by Justin Cano (18th, 18:07.2), Soren Khitikian (20th, 18:13.7), Christopher Miguel (25th, 18:31.9) and Nathan Marca (27th, 18:39.8).
The Bulldogs notched a 21st-place finish from Sanjay Dhamodharan in 18:20.1 He was followed by Kyle Deng (22nd, 18;23), Isaac Arroyo (26th, 18:35.8), Maxime Siek (30th, 19:28.7) and Ejmin Hartoonian (31st, 19:36.4).
“We are so young in that we have four sophomores and three freshmen,” Peebles said. “For all of them, it’s their first venture at the varsity level and it’s a good learning experience to see where you’re at by the end of the season.”
The league finals will be held Nov. 3 at Arcadia County Park.
