The Crestview League is one of the toughest leagues in all of Orange County, if not the state of California. The fast runners and competitive drive for success is what really pushes the runners to beat one another. Brea showed up to league finals to crush the competition and they for sure did that. The day started off with the boy’s JV race. The first two runners for Brea were Jack Hannum and Noah Tamagno. Jack Hannum ran a solid race and was Brea’s number one. He finished 3rd overall with a time of 16:22. However, the great story of the race was the performance by Noah Tamagno. Tamagno struggled all summer with an injury which carried into the season, as he struggled to break 17 all season. So determined to reach that milestone, Noah decided before the race started that he was going to stick right on Jack Hannum, no matter how much it hurt to do so. His race plan worked out perfectly. Despite a fall that left him, bloody, scratched up, and bruised at around the two mile mark, he powered through, gave ‘em the horns, and finished with a time of 16:26, earning himself a spot on the CIF state team. Also striving to break the 17 minute mark was Mason harding, who just got under with a time of 16:58. Congrats Mason! Cooper Crabtree came in 4th for Brea, pushing hard for a time of 18:05, and in his last High School cross country race, Kevin Sprague ran an impressive performance with a time of 18:25. The team finished 2nd.

The Frosh/Soph team is stacked. They will make there presence known at State in a few years. That hill at the two mile mark, you think Matthew Apahidean, Thunder Thighs himself, if gonna care about that? No he doesn’t, and neither does Ryan Daedler. Lil’ Daedler actually beat Matthew this race, coming in second overall at 16:03, with Matthew at 16:17, third overall. Carlos Perez, continuing Brea's 2-5 sweep, was close behind at 16:22. Despite only having several weeks training, Andrew Velasco came outta nowhere where, silent but deadly, running 16:25. Aakash and Ostby, coming in at 17:02.2 and 17:02.7, respectively, made a Comanche sandwich with a 17:02.5 Canyon runner. Jack Livingston, earning a 17:25, a fantastic time for a freshmen, was Brea's seventh in the frosh race

For the varsity boys League Finals is the beginning to the postseason of cross country. Our rivals, the Canyon Comanches, came to race as did we. We, sadly, came up short of defending our league champs title we have held for the last 8 years. It is by no means a disappointment, however, due to the racing that happened for our team. Tyler Spicer, having situated himself in the front pack for the majority of the race, ran an impressive 15:01 with Shane Gaffikin running 15:08. They rank 7th and 10th in school history at Yorba Regional. John Dempsey also ran a PR of 15:14and Jon Tobin came in at a time of 15:29 to show steady improvement throughout the year heading into CIF. Freshman stud, Jonathan Manara ran a PR of 15:39 to become the 2nd fastest freshman in school history on the course. Chris Thornburgh and Tommy Valenti rounded out the varsity squads with solid times of 15:41 and 15:50. The boys look to move on and improve on these performances when they take on CIF the next several weeks with the best of Division III.

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Thank you to Alex Fong for dedicating his time to taking pictures of the boys!

League Finals is on Thursday at Yorba Regional Park. Boys schedule below:

Bus leaves at 11:00 AM

1:30 PM JV Boys
2:30 PM F/S Boys
3:30 PM Varsity Boys

Parking and entry are still $3

See you there!

This Friday we are racing at Mt. SAC. Races go on through the entire day, with our first one at 10:30 AM. There will be two buses, see below for details.

8 AM Bus
JV - 10:30 AM Race

1:35 PM Bus
Frosh - 3:45 PM
Soph - 4:15 PM
JV Nats - 5:45 PM
Sweepstakes - 5:45 PM

Due to construction, parking and spectating will be difficult. Please refer to the Mt. SAC red bulletin and maps below

http://events.mtsac.edu/ccinvite/info/confirmations/HS/confirmationpacket.pdf

Spectators are to park north of Temple avenue and walk around construction. It is a about a 2-mile walk so please plan accordingly. The course is largely the same despite construction but it will make spectating and arriving more difficult.

Carlos Perez, coming in at 17:43, was Brea’s #1 frosh runner, despite being alone for much of the race. Jordan Ostby, closely followed by John Root, was Brea's second. John Root, apparently ditching his racing buddy Aakash Kadakia for Jordan Ostby, came in at 18:10. Aakash, despite enduring the greatest betrayal since Anakin Skywalker marched on the Jedi Temple, pushed for a time of 18:30, without John Root.

Chris Furumizo, not far behind, achieved a PR of 18:36. Tyler Belknap, all pistons firing, came in at 18:48. Angel Fuerte battled it out to the finish with Yorba Linda's fourth, Logan Rios a few seconds behind him. Shane Park and Brandon Kuo finished together with a time of 20:45. Anthony Motts, Andrew Kim, Jeremy Guerrero, Josiah Jepsen, Jonathon Cierley, Evan Gomez, Joseph Dalman, Joseph Rivas and Harshal Patel brought up the rear in their first Crestview League meet.

The Crestview League: one of the toughest leagues in all of Orange County, nay, in all of the state. The League Preview meet is where everyone can get a look and feel for what the race will be like at league final. The conditions. The competition. The atmosphere. All of it. Although the JV Squad moved some members up to Varsity, they showed up to race and competed. On Wednesday, the team was led by Junior Noah Tamagno, running 17:39 and finishing 5th overall. After Noah came Mason Harding, striding with the blades to a 12th place finish and a time of 18:07. Cooper Crabtree, coming off an impressive race at Dana Hills Invite, finished just behind Mason, running 18:09. Senior Kevin Sprague placed 26th overall, running and impressive race with a time of 19:11. Joshua Bayani rounded out the group running 19:52 and finishing 27th. He also injured himself mid race, but showed true toughness and grit of a real cross country runner and pushed through to the finish. We wish him the best for a speedy recovery. The team placed 5th overall.

This past week, with two races coming near back to back, it was an opportunity for some people to run varsity in one race while other varsity members plan to race a couple of days after. Those that stepped up to the plate though happened to race fairly well, as well as the whole varsity team as a whole. Century Conference is a fairly dominant conference for cross country, especially the Crestview League. Teams like Canyon, Esperanza and Foothill all present challenges. With Tyler Spicer, Shane Gaffikin, and Jon Tobin all racing on Saturday, Jack Hannum, Matt Apahidean, and Ryan Daedler all raced in the varsity race. John Dempsey ran 15:34 to lead the squad and placed 6th in the race. Tommy Valenti showed once again hes capable of beating 16:00 with a time of 15:51. Jonathon Manara runs the 3rd fastest time as a freshman at Yorba with a time of 16:00. Matt Apahidean finishes right behind Jonathon with a time of 16:07 in his bring up to varsity. Chris Thornburgh ran a time of 16:12 showing toughness as he ran through a lot of pain in his leg. Ryan Daedler runs 16:18 for a huge PR in his first varsity race. Jack Hannum also runs a great time of 16:34 to round out the squad.

Location: Oak Canyon Park -5305 Santiago Canyon Road, Silverado Ca 92676.
Parking $15, No pets allowed

Friday - Frosh, Soph, JV

Bus leaves at 12:00 PM
Race times:
Frosh - 3:00 PM
Soph - 3:35 PM
JV - 5:00 PM

Saturday - Varsity

Bus leaves at 6:45 AM
Race Time - 9:10 AM

Runners not racing on Saturday are expected to ride the bus with the varsity on Saturday. They will have their normal long run practice at Oak Canyon Park.

This weekend we are racing at Carbon Canyon Regional Park. There will be no bus leaving from the school. Please arrive at 7:00 AM when the Park opens to help set up the course and to ensure that all volunteer positions are filled.

If you have donations for concessions please bring those by Friday if possible. Special thank you to Trish Harding for coordinating the volunteer efforts and to all parents who have helped with donations or are volunteering to put on the meet.

Race schedule is below

8:05: BOYS F/S 6-7 OTHER
8:25: GIRLS F/S 6-7 OTHER
8:45: BOYS F/S 3-5
9:05: GIRLS F/S 1-5
9:25: BOYS F/S 1-2
9:45: BOYS VAR 1-2
10:05: GIRLS VAR 1-2
10:25: BOYS VAR 3-5
10:45: GIRLS VAR 3-5
11:05: GIRLS VAR 6,7 OTHER (AND JV)
11:25: BOYS VAR 6,7 OTHER (AND JV)

**** ​LOCATION IS NOW YORBA REGIONAL PARK ****

GIRLS BUS leaves at 12:30 PM- Release from 4th period at 12:15.

Boys Bus leaves at 1:00 PM - Notify 5th period teachers of your absence!

3:00 PM -  JV Girls
3:30 PM - JV Boys
 
4:00 PM -  FS Girls
4:30 PM - F/S Boys
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5:00 PM - Varsity Girls
5:30 PM - Varsity Boys

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Despite racing in the middle of the day and without sophomores to back them up, the freshmen performed admirably. Far from unlucky, Jack Livingston's 13th place finish demonstrated exceptional talent. Shane Park impressed everyone with his splits, his mile splits; 6:49 average. Gunnar Cierley debuted at 22:36, while Anthony Motts and Andrew Kim rounded it the squad with times of 23:20 and 23:56, respectively.

Easily the most impressive performance of the day, Matthew Apahidean 16:07 race, moving him into Varsity, and taking second in his race. Surely he will beat his older brother's personal record within the season. It's always fantastic to see teammates packing up, and no one does it better than Ryan Daedler, who held onto Carlos Perez's shoulder with everything he had. Working together, Ryan Daedler and Carlos Perez both dropped under 17 minutes, the mileage clearly paying off. Jordan Ostby, mild mannered, reserved, tore it up on the field, and dropped the hammer on the field. Rounding out the top 5 was the second duo of the day: Akash Kadakia, and John Root. Now, clearly the Root Loops have been paying off for John Root, the question is, from whence doth Akash Kadakia derive his great constitution from? Could it be his mileage? His discipline? His diet? However it's also possible he has been joining John on his Root Loops. Surfacing from the deep like an Ohio class submarine, Christopher Furumizo demolished the landlubber competition. Finally out of the water, he was able to unleash his nuclear power on the unsuspecting athletes, coming in just under 19 minutes. True to his name, Angel Fuerte flexed on competitors, and really showed exactly how strong Brea Olinda is. Sidelined last track season by a dirt bike  injury, Tyler Belknap is back for the bell lap coming in strong at 19:52. Finally Logan Rios, with the ability of a ferret, the tact of a lizard, and the courage of a dog, rounded out the sophomore squad with a time of 20:25.

The Juniors and Seniors didn’t disappoint. Juniors Jack Hannum and Noah tamagno had great races, coming within seconds of their original PR, and Kevin Sprague had one of the races of his life, falling short of his original PR by 1 second, but still very impressive. Notable performances came from Cooper Crabtree, who wrecked his PR from last year by over a minute and thirty seconds and Joshua Bayani who beat his PR by 10 seconds.

Under the lights are when some of the most memorable moments are made. This idea definitely defined what happened to the varsity squad at Woodbridge. Racing in the night invitational race,
The boys knew they were in for a fast race. Leading the squad was Tyler Spicer who ended up racing to a PR in the 3 mile en route to a time of 14:54, becoming one of the few elite Brea runner to make that feat. Shane Gaffikin also had the race of his life, running 15:12 only as a sophomore becoming the 22nd fastest sophomore 3 mile in the nation according to Milesplit. Tommy Valenti also raced to a PR with an outstanding time of 15:25 who, along with Chris Thornburgh with a time of 15:31, have shown great improvement this far into the season. John Dempsey ran a time of 15:31, showing improvement from last week’s race and good to round out the top 5. Jonathan ran an outstanding time for a freshman with a time of 16:05 and to round out the varsity squad was Jon Tobin, who toughed out a race that he was feeling immense pain. The squad takes on another fast race this saturday at Dana Hills with some of the best of OC.

Photos from Alex Fong - 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/56046376@N06/sets/72157686298139220/
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