WALNUT – South Pasadena senior Abigail Errington’s long journey through her cross country career ended with a dominant showing in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 finals at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday, winning the individual title in 16:56.6 over thre three mile course.
And it got better. The Tigers also won the Division 3 team title with a crushing victory, finishing with 43 points, well ahead of second-place finisher Santa Margarita with 90 points.
That’s a great way to head to the state championships next week at Woodward Park in Fresno.
“I had a good feeling about this race throughout training,” Errington said of the team title. “We all felt good and the girls have been doing amazing. But it’s one thing to do well in practice and another thing to go out in the race and execute. But we were confidenct going into it and it’s a huge relief. We knew it could happen, we just didn’t want to let ourselves down.”
Individually, Errington was all smiles with her individual crown.
“It’s surreal,” Errington said. “If you told me freshman year we would have won CIF and I would be individual champ I would have not believed you. It’s amazing to see hard work pay off and that’s what this was.”
South Pasadena’s Saidbh Byrne finished fourth overall in 17:55.2 with Maya Lee (19th in 18:55.6), Sofia Humphrey (21st in 18:58.2), Amelie Geoffron (29th in 19:24.6), Chloe Koo (40th in 19:37.2) and Rose Vandevelde (55th in 20:09.9) all contirubting to their title.
Tigers coach Michael Parkinson fought off tears talking about their team championship, which was the first in the school’s history.
“We’ve been training for this course for four years to do this,” Parkinson said. “This is what we wanted. We were ho[ing for no rain so we could do the tough course (at Mt. SAC). Last year we were third here, moved up to Division 3 and looked like we had a shot. But you have girls go down, stress fractures, girls get sick and you just have to hope everything goes well and it did.”
West Covina’s Becky Osorio medalled in the Division 3 finals, finishing third in 17:49.1. Santa Fe’s Serenity Fausto also had a strong showing, finishing eighth overall in 18:01.6. Monrovia’s Isla Terrill was 11th in 18:04.1.
Osorio and Fausto will head to next week’s state championships too
The Arcadia girls finished fourth in Division 1, paced by Reina Hsieh, who finished 19th overall at 18:14.
California’s Marley Rebelledo-Ynostros was the top area girls finisher in Division 3, finishing 30th overall in 19:02.07.
LA CANADA’S MAYA DEBROUWER COLLAPSES NEAR FINISH
In one of the most heartbreaking and gutsy performances in the Division 4 girls finals, La Canada’s Maya DeBrouwer was 10 meters from the finish line with about a 60 meter lead when her legs suddenly gave out and she collpased to the track.
JSerra’s Sophie Polay made up the distance and passed DeBrouwer before she could get up, winning in 17:49.4. But DeBrouwer, to her credit, showed guts and determination getting to her feet and walking past the finish line to finish second overall in 17:55.1
DeBrouwer was tended to by paramedics and other medical staff shortly after the race.
“I did not feel my body, my legs just gave out,” DeBrouwer said later. “It was very disappointing.”
Bishop Amat’s Madeline Nilo finished 10th overall in the Division 4 final in 18:37.3.