One after another, five athletes from the Burroughs boys’ cross-country team trickled past the finish line at the Pacific League finals at Crescenta Valley Park on Thursday.
The group finish was good enough to help Burroughs place second behind Crescenta Valley in the league finals as the Falcons, which had seven top-10 finishers in the race, held off the Bears 18-60.
A pack of Bears placed 10th through 14th, led by sophomore Liam Ellingsworth who clocked in 16 minutes, 55.2 seconds. Burroughs sophomore Nathan Marca placed 11th in 16:57.2, junior Alex Acevedo came in 12th at 17:09.3, junior Justin Cano followed in 13th at 17:10, and junior Danny Camacho finished 14th in 17:19.20. Falcons senior Eddie Sion won the boys’ meet in 15:44.2.
Burbank senior Ricardo Mujica was the top finisher for the Bulldogs, placing ninth in 16:35.60 as Burbank finished fourth overall. Bulldogs senior Maxime Slek was the second-best finisher for Burbank in 19th at 17:55.2, and sophomore Brandon Kim (23rd, 18:26.10), freshman John Santiago (24th, 18:26.3), senior Sanjay Dhamodharan (26th, 18:47), senior William Klein (28th, 18:58.2) and junior Raymond Muradyan (31st, 19:10.8) followed.
Saida Getz placed 10th for Burroughs, coming in 20:57.9. Isabella Galustians was the next Bears finisher in 16th at 22:09.8, and Lucy Thomson (18th, 22:21.6), Anya Kallianpur (21st, 23:11.2), Kayla Cabral (25th, 24:47.8), Makayla Victoria (28th, 25:13.6) and Amy Harkins (29th, 25:30.2) followed.
Reena Hsieh of Arcadia won the girls’ race in 18:43.7. Crescenta Valley won the girls’ title with 24 points, Arcadia finished runner-up overall with 51 and Burroughs in third with 88.
Burbank senior Ashley Sosa led the Bulldogs with a 14th-place finish at 21:30.5. Bulldogs junior Leah Yaghoobov (20th, 23:02.7), senior Alexandra Slek (24th, 24:28.2), freshman Tanya Nazari (26th, 24:53.2), freshman Rebeka Nazari (27th, 24:57.8) senior Annika Basco (30th, 25:36.5) and freshman Chloe Jo (33rd, 27:36.10) rounded out the Burbank finishers.
Next up for Pacific League participants will be the CIF Southern Section Prelims and Finals. The prelims begin Nov. 11. The finals start Nov. 18.
First published in the November 4 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
