Eagles run well at Clovis Invite

The Vista del Lago varsity boys' and girls' cross country teams traveled to the 45th annual Clovis Invitational at the prestigious Woodward Park course on Saturday, October 12, and came home proud of their performances, and excited for their prospects for the rest of the season. The boys' team put together one of their top overall performances of the 2024 season, taking fourth place overall in the large school division race. They were led by senior Xavier Biwott, who finished in 12th overall in a time of 16 minutes, 16.4 seconds, which was his fastest time on the Woodward Park course in his varsity career. Sophomore Teddy Beavers was not too far behind, racing for a 16th place finish (16:21.2), improving his time from the 2023 Clovis Invitational by over a minute. Two more Eagles cracked the top-40 (out of 190 runners) with freshman Rocco Jerwers (34th overall) hitting a personal best in the 5K distance with a time of 17:11.2, and senior Edwin Hooey close behind in 17:12.1 (46th overall). Junior Reid Blake and senior Max Rice also raced for personal bests in the 5K distance, with Blake coming in 53rd place (17:17:4) and Rice in 54th (17:17:6). Senior leader Garth Tretheway rounded out the varsity squad with a time of 18:11.7 in his inaugural race at Woodward Park. In the girl's large school race, the Eagles took home 20th place overall as a team. Junior Brenna Mannion led the way, coming in eighth place overall (out of 189 runners) with a time of 18:14.6. This was Mannion's fastest time on the Woodward Park course, which she has raced four times, and eclipsed last season's state finals performance by 25 seconds. Freshman Stella Xiao continued her stellar first high school season, finishing in 46th place overall in a time of 19:30.7. Junior Addison Luong also took home her fastest time out of four races on the Woodward Park course, coming in at 20:12.5. Senior Laure Lecina and sophomore Daniela Liang raced closely together in times of 20:34.1 and 20:35.5, respectively. This was Lecina's season best in the 5K distance, while Liang took home a career best time in the 5k. Both are impressive marks considering the challenging hills of the Woodward Park course. Sophomore Emma Roan also picked up a career best time in the 5K distance (22:06.5), improving upon her previous week's time at the Tom Laythe Invitational by over two minutes. Senior Kasey Fennell rounded out Vista's varsity team, coming in with a time of 24:28.9 Both the boys and girls teams are looking forward to the CVC league and Sac-Joaquin Section Finals meets, which lie ahead over the next few weeks, as well as a possible state finals berth in late November.