Culver City High’s boys’ and girls’ cross country teams competed in two invitations that included the South Bay Cup at Columbia Park in Torrance on Oct. 1 and the Palos Verdes Invitational last Saturday.
At the P.V. Course, the Centaurs had a few good times over the hilly, two-mile course.
For Culver’s boys, junior Maarten Hesseling recorded the team’s best time at 12 minutes and 15.31 seconds. Senior Patrick Gardener was clocked at 12:25.33.
Sophomore Jack Bishop completed the course in 13:38.57 and sophomore Donovan Hiase was right behind Bishop timing 13:40.17. Bishop and Hiase were eighth and ninth, in order, in their heat.
Culver City’s girls were led by senior Esmeraldo Sandoval who was eighth in her heat in 15:04.19. Senior Kathy Hermosillo was clocked in 16:29.21. Sophomore Alexandra Palacios completed the course at 16:39.39.
In a freshman boys race, the Centaurs’ Max Jordan placed fifth clocking 13:30.72.
Three days earlier in the South Bay Cup, Culver City took fifth out of six full teams with 142 place points. West Torrance, with the top four finishers in the race, won handily with 18 place points to 44 for runner-up Mira Costa. CIF-Los Angeles City Section power San Pedro was third at 85.
Junior Abraham Vazquez led the Centaurs with a 17th place finish (15th for scoring) by completing the mostly flat 2.6-mile course clocking 14:06.
Sophomore Max Flynn was 32nd (27th scoring) in 15:04; Hesseling was 33rd (28th scoring) timing 15:06; junior Cole Thomson took 41st (34th scoring, 16:07) and senior Lance Shirley placed 45th (38th scoring, 16:46).
West’s Yosef Baddour won the race in 13:09.
Culver’s girls had only four runners, one shy of team scoring. Junior Rhina Padilla led the Lady Centaurs by finishing 38th timing 18:24. Sandoval (18:33) placed right behind Padilla at 39th. Hermosillo (19:54) took 43rd. Palacios (20:06) was 46th.
The race winner was South Torrance’s Kimberly Coscia at 14:44.
The Spartans also won the girls’ race over second place cross town rival West Torrance, 39-57. Mira Costa was third with 69.
Culver head coach Tom Firtzius said that injuries have plagued his team but was pleased with some of the runners’ performances.
On Sept. 25, the Centaurs ran their first Ocean League meet at Rancho Park where the boys finished fourth and the girls were fifth.
He hopes to see improvement as Culver runs in its second league meet at Kenneth Hahn Park next Thursday at 2 p.m. The league finals are also there on Nov. 6.