For the first time ever the Rio-Pacific Conference hosted league finals where everyone ran together but standings were divided between the school enrollments.
Burbank and Burroughs were put in a group with Crescenta Valley, Arcadia and Glendale highs to form the Arroyo League. All other schools are part of the Boulder League. But they all ran together Thursday at Arcadia County Park.
The Bears qualified for postseason with a second-place finish for both the boys and girls teams, behind the juggernaut of Crescenta Valley.
On the boys’ side, Burroughs scored 53 points, well ahead of third place Arcadia, which had 87. Burbank nearly topped Arcadia, scoring 91.
In the girls’ varsity competition Burroughs finished second with 39 points, behind CV, which scored 25. Arcadia was third with 68, Burbank fourth with 116 and Glendale took fifth with 141.
Burroughs freshman Sofia Redin took second overall on the 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 41 seconds.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming into this team,” said Redin, who is now a full-time runner after having played club soccer. “I’m proud of my team. I guess getting first isn’t important for me, it is being part of a good team and trying my best.”
Teammate Elisha Hill finished fifth in 18:56.2. Also for Burroughs were Embrie Stephenson (seventh, 19:15.1), Summer Swierenga (12th, 19:47), Nightingale Kirwan (13th, 19:48.2), Paula Mejia (14th, 20:11.2), m
Burbank was led by junior Lola Sickler who finished 19th in 21:55.8. Also for Burbank were Natalie Baghdasaryan (22nd, 23:21.6), Mia Flor Mahoney (23rd, 24:20.4), Ileana Flores (24th, 24:31.60), Ava Khachadourian (28th, 26:11.2), Chloe Jo (29th, 27:25) and Elin Khodaverdy (30th, 30:21.9).
In the boys’ varsity competition Burroughs Danny Patino took seventh in 15:52.4.
Teammate Derek Galustians followed in eighth in 16:09.20. Bazeel Noguera (11th, 16:34.8), Easton Siems (13th, 16:53.6), Matthew Ilasin (14th, 17:07) and Alex Gordon (17th, 17:21.8) round out the Bears.
Burbank High sophomore Esteban Perez finished 10th overall to lead his team, finishing in 16:33.21. His finish was enough to earn him a berth in the CIF Southern Section preliminaries next week.
Freshman Cash Oates (15th, 17:08.30), Om Sharma (19th, 17:40.50), Lewis Zick (23rd, 17:59.2), Mohammed Tayabji (24th, 18:05.7), Gabriel Pavan (26th, 18:35.3) and Ashwath Arasuraj Sankar (27th, 18:52.6) round out the Bulldogs.
“I’m really excited (thinking) about our junior and senior years,” Perez said of the young team. “It was a little bit of a rough summer for me being injured with an achilles (problem) all summer long and for half of my season, so it is great getting the opportunity to go to CIF. I’m excited for our team. I think we have a lot of potential and as we go it is only going to skyrocket.”
