Cross Country Program (2024 - 2025)

The JSerra Girls and Boys Cross Country teams prepared for next week’s Southern Section title battle with strong collective qualifying efforts at the CIF-SS Divisional Preliminaries Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. The Lions, the state’s top-ranked Division 4 team, cruised harmoniously around the venerable running course's new layout, which saw the elimination of "Poop Out Hill”, one of the infamous three big inclines that had helped defined the original course construction for more than half a century Junior Chloe Elbaz, senior Sophie Polay, freshman Kaia Streadbeck, sophomore Reese Holley, sophomore Hayden Kroger, and sophomore Hutton Nelligan were among the top seven for most of their Heat 1 qualifying run, running stride-for-stride for much of the competition. Elbaz was credited with the individual heat win in 19:07.1, with Polay also credited with the same clocking and taking third place. Holley, Streadbeck, and Kroger were fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively, each striding across the finish line in a time of 19:07.2. Nelligan was a stride behind that trio, finishing seventh in 19:07.4. JSerra totaled a heat-winning 17 points. It was much the same in the boys’ race, where the Lions (also ranked No. 1 in the state in Division 4) had senior Bradley Arrey, senior Taye Newman, junior Luke Friedl, junior Cole Carlson, sophomore Zac O’Leary, and junior Jack Burnett in the top nine by the second mile, separated by less than two seconds. Arrey led the Lions’ scoring group across the finish line in second place in 15:57.2, with Newman taking third in 15:57.4. Friedl (16:02) and Carlson (16:03.9) were fourth and fifth respectively. O’Leary capped the scoring for the Lions’ heat-winning total of 23 points by crossing the finish line in ninth place in a time of 16:14.4.