It was a good day to be a Jackrabbits as both the boys and girls cross country teams qualified for CIF Finals last Saturday, Nov. 15 on the famed Mt.SAC cross country course.
After winning another straight Moore League title earlier this month, the boys and girls showed an outstanding effort at the CIF-Southern Section Prelims. Both teams get that much farther on the road to state as the boys placed 4th in their heat and the girls win theirs heat. Because of their exceptional efforts, Poly is advancing to the CIF-Southern Section Finals this Saturday November 22, Once again held at Mt. Sac.
“For us, prelims for the last few years have been a kind of cushion We needed to run hard, but we didn’t have to kill it. They all ran pretty decent times without all that effort and with that attitude, the guys know they can make it. It’s just psychological, they know they can do it,” said boys head coach Mike Fillpow.
First in the chute for Poly was junior Colby Penn, running with a time of 15:55. Penn was followed closely by fellow juniors Gian Delfin (16:03) and Conor Ragland (16:11). Senior Matt Oca finished fourth for the Jackrabbits with a time of 16:20. Poly’s varsity underclassmen finished soon after as sophomore Hugo Novoa, and freshman Eric Hatch come in neck and neck at 16:27 and 16:29 respectively. Rounding out the jackrabbits score was senior Brennan Bruggeman running 16:35 and pilling the boys in for a fourth place finish.
“We were in a position where we didn’t have to go all out. WE were able to breeze through and make it to finals. I’m proud of the guys and I know we can make it to state this weekend,” said Penn.
The girls took to the start line almost an hour later. With a relatively young team of all underclassmen, the girls ran the second heat of division one.
“It was really fun. It was just a good experience to race e with girls at that caliber,” said sophomore varsity member Olivia Gleason. “There are supposed to be more people at finals and we can only hope we do well.”
Sophomore Juliane Douds leads the way for Poly, finishing with a time of 18:40. She was soon followed by Gleason who ran an 18:46. Freshman Fiona O’Leary comes in right behind Gleason as she finishes
with an 18:47 in her varsity race. Next to finish for the girls were sophomore Lauren Fillipow (18:55), Melissa Tanaka (18:52), and Brenda Rosales (19:02). The girls’ scores were rounded out by freshman Leslie Diaz coming in with a time off 19:19 to pull the jackrabbits to a first place win.
The jackrabbits will be at Mt. SAC once again this Saturday, Nov. 22, to compete for the chance to make it to state. If they make it, the boys will revisit Fresno like they did two years ago. For the girls, this would be their first time competing at state.
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