The Country Day cross country team competed against 400 schools from nine states during the 3-mile Woodbridge Invitational in Norco, California, on Sept. 17. 

Freshman Andrew Burr placed first overall out of 845 freshmen runners with a time of 16 minutes, 3 seconds.

“It felt great to come in first at such an important meet, and it’s a nice confidence boost,” Burr said. 

Freshman Wyatt Hall placed 60th with a time of 20:51 and freshman Alexander Zinn placed 66th with a time of 21:17. 

“We performed a lot better than we usually do. The course was completely flat, quite the opposite of our practices. And so as a result, we performed a lot better,” Zinn said. 

The team has already determined what to improve on for upcoming events.

“This was a really long race,” Zinn said. “For future races, I’ll have a better pace in mind, and the results will follow.”

Cross country coach Joe Hartman is optimistic for future events. 

“The runners raced well.  We have six full weeks until league championships and we just need to maximize our training potential between now and then,” Hartman said.  “For the first time in years, we have a chance to field a competitive boys team and possibly challenge for the league title.”

The next meet is planned for Oct. 2 in Rocklin at William Jessup College.

— By William Holz