A season after finishing fourth in league, there wasn’t much hoopla over the Burbank High girls’ cross country team heading into this season.
But the Bulldogs showed once again Thursday afternoon that times have changed and that they are for real.
The Bulldogs won their second consecutive Pacific League meet, topping second-place Burroughs, 36-59 at Arcadia County Park.
For decades the league has been dominated by Arcadia and Crescenta Valley.
“We talk a lot about what it means to win. It comes down to hard work. They made the commitment to do it this summer,” Burbank coach Kathryn Nelson said of her team. “They took the Verdugos and ran every piece of the Verdugos that they could run.”
Burbank, which is ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, was led by senior Shalom Mejia. She finished third overall, covering the flat three-mile course in 18 minutes, 5 seconds.
She was followed by teammates Sol Fernandez (fourth, 18:12), McKynzee Kelley (seventh, 18:33), Jamie Levin (ninth, 18:35), Lydia Forsyth (13th, 18:45), Megan LaCamera (15th, 18:58) and Natalie Danao (17th, 19:01).
Burroughs was led by freshman Sophia Navarro, who was sixth in 18:19. Ceci Whitney (eighth, 18:35), Jordan Guzman (11th, 18:42), Lakely Nealis (14th, 18:53), Julianna Navarro (20th, 19:19), Patrycija Maciak (23rd, 19:23) and Kiara Cruz (26th, 19:56) round out the Indians, who narrowly beat out Crescenta Valley for second place by just one point.
In the boys’ varsity competition, Burbank finished third with 77 points and Burroughs was fourth with 97. Crescenta Valley won with 36 points.
Burroughs Raymond Berrellez finished third overall in 14:54.
Burbank sophomore Andres Leon led the Bulldogs by taking fifth in 15:00.
“We’re just trying to do better than we did before,” Leon said. “A lot of us have been sick so we haven’t been performing at our best.”
Also for Burbank were Dayne Ellis (16th, 15:38), Victor Goli (17th, 15:39), Tadeh Shanazari (19th, 15:47), Anthony Chiaravalle (20th, 15:49), Steven Wright (28th, 16:24) and Jahir Olvera (30th, 16:30).
Following Barrellez for Burroughs were Carlos Ponce (21st, 15:49), Robert McGraham (23rd, 15:52), Trevor Villagran (24th, 16:02), Johnny Padungyothee (26th, 16:14), Logan Berger (32nd, 16:33) and Patrick Suarez (38th, 17:15).
“The girls ran pretty solidly today,” Burroughs coach John Peebles said. “On the boys side Raymond ran a really good race. We’re still trying to pack with our two through six.”
