PV Runners Racing To Capture CIF Championship
• PV High cross country team competes in CIF finals this weekend after last week’s successful prelims.
The Palos Verdes cross country boys’ and girls’ varsity teams traveled to Riverside in early November to compete in the CIF prelims. The teams are back this weekend for the finals.
The exciting races held on November 10, brought even more action to the Sea Kings as they reached the finish line.
The Sea Kings girls varsity team brought home the first place win at the three-mile course. Sea Kings’ Samantha Cohen took first place for PV and placed 15th overall with an outstanding time of 18:52.6.
Second place for the Kings was Natalie Watson with a time of 19:01.9, almost breaking 19 minutes. Not far behind, finishing 25th, 26th and 27th overall, were Madeline Babros (19:10.5), Grace Catena (19:10.7), and Samantha Steman (19:11.1), all with close finishes.
Freshman runner Claire Hardesty clocked in at 19:32.3 and placed 36th overall, trailing right behind the pack of three. Ellie Madeja finished 54th overall at 19:58.1.
The PV varsity boys team finished 4th and will compete, as will the girls team, at the Finals this weekend.
Sea King senior Fabian Veerkamp said, “I think we were happy with how we finished CIF prelims. The boys varsity team has improved a lot from the beginning of the season. Not only are we running faster and stronger, but we’re working better with each other.
“The most important goal for us,” Veerkamp said, “was to qualify for finals, which we did. We expect to work hard and win CIF, but we have to work as a team to do it. Without each other we can’t move on. It’s no doubt that there’s going to be competition, but as long as we can push each other and work as a team we can win easily.
“Racing at CIF, for me,” said Veerkamp, “is a moment to be very proud of. Although I’m nervous at the starting line before the race, I’m happy to race with my team. During the race there isn’t much going through my head, other than to keep working. Every person and every point counts.”
PV High senior Ian Irish placed first for the PV team and 10th overall. Irish finished with an extraordinary clocking of 15:50.2.
Falling not too far behind Irish was junior Tate Nygren who finished in 15:56.9 and 15th place.
Barely breaking a tie with a Rosemead racer, Frankie Reid placed 23rd, clocking 16:07.1.
Veerkamp finished 30th and had a solid time of 16:16.7. William Teets stepped in 54th and had a finishing time of 16:35.2. Placing 74th, Erik Anderson ran the course in 16:53.3. Anderson led Hunter Burczyk to finish 81st with a clocking of 16:56.1.
With the help of their coaches, Brian Shapiro, Kevin Farrington, Kirsty Legg and Alex Broughton, these PV runners have come a long way and are hoping to do even better this weekend.
