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LAGUNA HILLS >> In the days leading up to Saturday’s Laguna Hills Cross Country Invitational, Laguna Hills coach Chris Lynch spent a lot of time touting his top freshman, Holly Barker, as a first-time runner who was “primed to do something special.”
The coach was right.
Barker easily won the Division 3 freshmen girls race, the first race of day, in a meet-best time of 16 minutes, 59.2. seconds. Barker ran the 3-mile course faster than all divisions of the sophomore, junior and senior races.
The freshman also set a school record for the distance, besting the former record of 17:08 set by Briana Bartello, who won the CIF SS Division 3 title in 2014 before going on to a become a U.S. Track and Field & Cross Country All-American at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.
Barker, who was competing in her first high school race, hadn’t been aware of Bartello’s mark.
“The whole time I was thinking someone was behind me,” Barker said of the race. “I felt good. The hillswere definitely kind of challenging but I took advantage of the downhills.”
Barker finished 1:36 ahead of the second-place finisher in her race and 1:36 better than the top finisherof the nine races featuring older runners.
The best boys mark of the day was turned in by Brennan Foody of Aliso Niguel, who won the Division 1senior boys race, the final race of the meet, in 15:43.2.
Despite the temperature being 90 degrees at the start of the race, Foody’s time was the fastest of themeet.
“Just going into it, I was trying to stay positive and give it my best effort,” Foody said.
The runners were in a tight pack through the first mile, said Foody, who began to separate himself fromthe pack on the first big hill and wound up finishing 40 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
After missing most of his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons due to an injury, Foody was basicallyan unknown coming into the race.
“I feel like I kicked off (the season) with a good win,” Foody said. “I’m excited to get this senior seasongoing all the way.”
San Clemente’s Juan Chantaca finished first in the Division 1 junior boys race in 15:58.38, the third besttime of the meet.
Chantaca battled back and forth with Santa Ana’s Jimmy Dominguez, who finished second.
“I knew I could break 16:00 on this course,” Chantaca said.
Capistrano Valley’s Jack Stevens crossed the line in 16:20.7 to win the Division 2 junior boys race.
Congratulations to our BOYS CROSS COUNTRY team for taking 1st overall in division 3 of the 37th Annual Laguna Hills Cross Country Invitational. Go, Hawks! @SVUSDSchools pic.twitter.com/VaQvKBtRnc
— Laguna Hills HS (@LHHawks) September 11, 2021
Santa Ana scored 49 points to win the Division 1 senior boys team competition and Woodbridge finishedwith 63 points to take first in the Division 2 senior boys team competition.
This post first appeared on ocregister.com
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