Bulldogs Prep For DFAL Championships At Mt. SAC

Alhambra's cross country team ends it's season this Saturday at the DFAL league championships at Hidden Valley park.  The Bulldog runners have won individual medals in each XC invitational in which they have competed.  This includes the largest cross country event in the nation, the Mt. San Antonio College Cross Country Invitational held in late October. 

At Mt. SAC, four individuals claimed medals.  Winning his third medal in four years, senior Evan Quigley raced to a 16:15 ninth place finish in the Division III race.  Over the past ten years of Bulldog participation in this national event, Quigley owns the second and third fastest times posted by any Bulldog harrier.

The varsity boys team finished 11th overall, even with three of their varsity underclassmen competing in the freshman and sophomore races.  Junior Joel Timbrell recorded the second fastest Bulldog time of 17:24 finishing 43rd overall.

Timbrell recovered from a fall when a fellow runner tripped in front of him causing both to tumble right at the top of the "switchback" climb in the second mile. After the race Timbrell commented, "I think the fall caused me to lose about 10 seconds off my time, the guy just dumped right in front of me." 

Senior Connor Bell broke into the top 50 for the race running a personal best 17:34.  Bell dropped 3 minutes off his time over the last three years worth of races.  Rounding out the varsity times were Connor Francis (19:15) and Emmit Francis (22:03).

Freshmen Michael Viano, Luis Haefke, and Christian Gianinni all ran strong in the freshman competition finishing 5th, 6th, and 37th out of 148 DIII runners. Viano (17:57) and Haefke (17:58) continued their medalist streak in underclassmen competitions.  In the sophomore race, Logan Kent recorded a 18:02 time and 18th place result which put him just 3 spots out of the medals.

The girls top time was recorded in the freshman race when Helene Hollidge ran a terrific time of 20:05 placing second overall in her race. Hollidge's time is 3rd fastest girl's time in the last ten years of Bulldog participation.  Helene was the final medalist for Alhambra.  The varsity girls team were led by Danielle Osborne who raced to a 73rd place finish in a time of 22:53.  The varsity girls finished 15th overall for the invitational.

Although the Bulldogs have enjoyed success in all of their 2011 competitions, they face their biggest test at this week's DFAL championships.  Some of the State's top runners will compete at the Hidden Valley course. On the boy's side, both Campolindo and Miramonte are ranked in the top 5 in the State for all division three competitors. The same hurdle faces the girls with Campolindo (ranked second) and Acalanes (ranked 10th) bringing strong State teams into our local championships.