One of the beautiful things about cross country is that one can join the team and be a key contributor, sometimes even without any experience.
It is also a sport that has been popular for those who are looking for success after not finding it in another discipline.
The Burroughs High cross country program is well established under longtime coach John Peebles. Burbank High is putting together a team of athletes from various sports, and appears to be headed back on the right track under coach Bao Kim Coleman, who is in his second year.
Burroughs
The Bears have a solid group of girls, who have a chance to finish the season in Fresno for the California State Meet.
Five of the top seven return from a team that finished 10th in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 finals last year.
Sophomore Baily Delgado leads that group. She ran 5 minutes, 28.86 in the 1,600 in track last spring.
Juniors Elisha Hill, Embrie Stephenson and Paula Mejia all had strong performances in the CIF finals a year ago. Junior Teresa Solano also ran in the CIF finals a year ago.
Hill is a superb middle distance runner having gone 2:19.89 in the 800 as a sophomore.
Stephenson ran 11:55.39 in the 3,200 last year. Mejia went 12:10.47 in the 3,200 as a sophomore. Solano ran 6:07.03 in the 1,600 last spring.
Senior Nightingale Kirwan had a solid track season last spring going 5:37.83 in the 1,600.
Sophomore Trinity Price (5:52.37 in the 1,600) last spring is another who will be in the mix on the varsity.
The Burroughs depth continues, as senior Gemma Olivo, juniors Summer Swierenga and Eva White as well as sophomore Anne Yaffe and freshman Sofia Redin could also see time on varsity this season.
The Burroughs boys’ team lost its two top runners to graduation in Liam Ellingsworth and Nathan Marca, but have much of the rest of the team back.
Senior Danny Patino had a solid track season, going 4:35.7 in the 1,600 and 10:18.09 in the 3,200. Senior Henry Bullock (4:49.83 in the 1,600) and juniors Derek Galustians (4:46.14 and 10:10.63) and junior Bazeel Noguera (4:49.96) should play a key role in the middle of the pack.
Seniors Easton Siems (10:36.61 in the 3,200) Matthew Ilasin (4:59.07 in 1,600) and Fernando Segovia (11:24.27, 3200) should make up the rest of the varsity team.
Burbank
Coleman, who ran at Hoover High in the 1980s, took over the team a year ago and is building the program back, and is doing it the right way, by forming a solid group of young competitors.
The boys team is one that may not be on anyone’s radar right now. But that could be a different story in two years with continued hard work and progression.
Sophomore Esteban Perez had a solid freshman season in track as he ran 10:17 in the 3,200 meters.
Fellow sophomore Om Sharma has shown great improvement over the summer and edged Perez by a second in a recent two-mile race.
Mohammed Tayabji, also a sophomore, went under 5 minutes in the 1,600 as a freshman, so there is a lot of optimism he can become a fine distance runner.
Freshman Cash Oates has a very bright future, having won the 1,600 in the Burbank Middle School meet last spring in 5:07.
Freshman Gabriel Pavan, who went 5:25 in the 1,600 in the middle school meet last year, gives Burbank yet another quality young runner.
Sophomores Lewis Zick and Ashwath Arasuraj Sankar are two more sophomores who finished with strong seasons in the distance races in track.
The Burbank girls’ team is also young, but not as young as the boys.
Junior Lola Sickler is the team captain. She ran 6:01.98 in the 1,600 last year.
Sophomore Sinned Arguelles, who is also a wrestler in the winter, ran 2:39 in the 800 as a freshman and has a bright future.
Senior Chloe Jo returns to the school and program, after having transferred out last school year.
Junior Ava Khachadourian is a veteran returner who has experience in marathons.
Sophomores Mia Flor Mahoney and Mylia Paschall are both returners to the program. Freshman Natalie Baghdasaryan is a young runner with a bright future.
