Much has changed in two years since a Pacific League Cross Country Championship was conducted.
Thursday afternoon Burbank High freshman Amelie Guyot emerged as the new local star, winning the varsity girls competition, clearing the 3-mile Crescenta Valley Park course in 19 minutes, 59.6 seconds.
“I had two goals coming here. The first was to beat my first (race) time and I got it. My other goal was to finish in the top three and I got first,” Guyot said. “It was a really nice accomplishment.”
Burroughs High junior Vivienne Cannon finished second in 20:07.7.
Burroughs finished third in the girls competition and Burbank was fourth. Just the top three teams in league advance to postseason play as just six schools competed as full varsity teams, along with Crescenta Valley, Arcadia, Pasadena and Hoover highs.
Guyot and the Burroughs girls team will compete in the CIF Southern Section preliminaries next week at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut.
Also for Burroughs were Savannah Hernandez (9th, 20:53), Zoe Askerneese (13th, 21:34.2), Sophia Navarro (17th, 21:45.3), Katherine Levy (26th, 23:34.3), Natalie Shaby (29th, 24:27.2) and Anabela Suter (31st, 25:00.3).
Also for the Burbank girls team were Nicole Mireles (16th, 21:45.0), Ashley Sosa (18th, 22:05.9), Carolina Leon (22nd, 22:50.7), Leah Yaghoobov (24th, 23:25.2) and Annika Basco (34th, 26:58.6).
The boys’ varsity competition saw Burroughs finish fourth and Burbank fifth in the league standings. It is the first time since the two schools have been in the Pacific League that neither advanced to postseason competition in the same year.
Pasadena’s Isaiah Givens, one of the top runners in the nation, won the race in 15:19.0.
Burroughs was led by Leon Rubarts, who took 10th in 16:25.2.
Also for the Bears, Jalen Leighton (13th, 16:34.9), Robert Church (16th, 17:04.3), Chase Eldrige (20th, 17:36.8), Andrew Jitendran (26th, 18:46.6), and Koji Schroeder (30th, 20:13.7).
Burbank High, which finished fifth in the state Division 1 two years ago, was led by James Kwon, who took 24th in 18:38.6.
Also for the Bulldogs were Isaac Arroyo (27th, 18:46.8), Christopher Camarena (29th, 19:19.9), Ian Kang (32st, 20:24.0), Sanjay Dhamodharan (32nd, 20;32.9), William Klein (34th, 20:45.9) and Ejmin Hartoonian (35th, 21:36.0).
