Burroughs Boys’ Cross Country Team Edged Out in League Final

The Burroughs High boys’ cross country team had won the past two Pacific League titles and won the first two league meets of this season.

But with Arcadia and Crescenta Valley close behind, nothing less than a stellar performance would help the Indians win again in the Pacific League final at Crescenta Valley Park.

Thursday afternoon, Burroughs found out how close every second and every man counts.

Unlike in the first two league meets, which were scored as head-to-head matchups, the league final is scored invitational style.

Either way, the Indians fell short against Arcadia. Under the invitational style scoring Burroughs lost to the Apaches on a sixth-man tie-breaker after both teams scored 44 points. Crescenta Valley, which returns its entire top five next season, was close behind with 49 points. Burbank High was fourth with 104.

Burroughs and Arcadia now share the league title, but Arcadia will head to CIF competition as the league’s top representative.

“I think we’re a little mad at ourselves for not doing what we could do,” Burroughs Jacob Calderon said. “We didn’t execute our game plan. Now we need to get ready for CIF.”

Had the meet been scored head-to-head Burroughs would have lost to Arcadia 27-28.

“We lost to a good team. Arcadia has a good group of runners,” Burroughs coach John Peebles said. “They beat us today. Hats off to them.”

Alexander Hirsch once again led the Indians and finished second to Crescenta Valley’s Colin FitzGerald, who won in 15 minutes, 33 seconds. Hirsch was second in 15:34.Also for Burroughs were Timothy Wells (fifth, 15:54), Jagdeep Chahal (seventh, 16:00),  Calderon (13^th, 16:20), Daniel Fendrich (17^th, 16:28), Patrick Wells (22^nd, 16:59) and Ethan Brown (26^th, 17:42).

Burbank was led by Elijah Parrott, who took 10^th in 16:08. Angel Flores (14^th, 16:21), Jahir Olvera (25^th, 17:33), Nick Glover (27^th, 17:45), Tadeh Shanazari (28^th, 17:56), Mario Avendano (31^st, 18:23) and Peter Al-Hasani (40^th, 19:36) round out the Bulldogs.

In the girls’ competition, Burbank finished second with 53 points. Arcadia easily won with 23 points. Burroughs finished fourth by way of losing a sixth runner tie-breaker with Crescenta Valley. The Indians had 84 points.

Emily Virtue easily repeated as league champion, winning in 18:18.

Burbank seniors Gabby Collins and Kira Bochard came up big, taking fifth and seventh place overall.

“I’m really proud of my team. Arcadia is one of the better teams in the state,” Collins said. “To be second to them in our league, which is a really good league, is really impressive.”

Collins finished in 19:15. Bochard finished in 19:19. Freshman Sol Fernandez (10^th, 19:49), Noemi Apreza (13^th, 20:27), Jamie Giammichele (18^th, 20:59), Natalie Danao (20^th, 21:11) and Jordan Delgado (25^th, 22:19) round out the Bulldogs.

For Burroughs, Heidi Eligio finished 11^th in 20:24. Sapphire Sandoval (19^th, 21:07), Catrina Villalpando (26^th, 22:23), Kenna Guzman (27^th, 22:32), Ana Villalpando (36^th, 24:10) and Molly Stapelfeldt (38^th, 24:48) round out the Indians.