WALNUT — It has been a season of firsts for the Beckman boys cross country team.
The Patriots have been the top team on the podium in several high-caliber meets this season, and they picked up a significant piece of hardware Saturday with a first-place finish in Division 1 at the CIF-SS Championships at Mt. San Antonio College.
Beckman finished with 83 points, 11 points ahead of second-place Great Oak and 40 ahead of third-place Mira Costa.
The Southern Section championship is the first in school history for the top-ranked Patriots, who will look to get back on the podium at the CIF State Championships next Saturday, Nov. 30, at Woodward Park in Fresno.
“Today was a special day in that the team really worked as a pack,” Beckman coach Corey Schuld said. “All the kids stepped up and ran their best race and that’s all we could ask for.”
Scoring for the Patriots were Anthony Barrera (13th), Nathan Horrocks (14th), Aaron Feaster (17th), Christian Weber (24th) and Ryan Barris (32nd).
Beckman is making its second trip in a row to the state championships after getting in as a fifth-place team at last season’s CIF-SS Finals.
“So, taking first is a big step,” Schuld said. “But our main focus is just focusing on the process, doing our best, putting in our best effort.”
The Patriots finished first as a team at the Central Park Invitational Oct. 5 in Huntington Beach, first in their division in the Clovis Invitational on Oct. 11 and first in the Division 1 and 2 Sweepstakes race at the Mt. SAC Invitational on Oct. 26.
Tesoro’s Griffin Kushen added to his stellar season with a victory in the Division 2 race in a course-record time of 14 minutes, 38.5 seconds, which was also the fastest time in any division Saturday and 16 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Dylan Flores of Glendora.
Earlier this season, Kushen finished 13th against a nationally ranked field in the sweepstakes race at the Woodbridge Classic on Sept. 21 at Irvine’s Great Park and then won the sweepstakes race in Orange County Cross Country Championships.
Kushen ran with the lead pack for the first 2 miles of the hilly, 3-mile course, and then separated himself from the pack. By the time the senior entered the football stadium for the final lap, the only question was whether he would establish a new record.
“I was just honestly thinking about finishing, getting the race done,” Kushen said. “But really, state is the goal, it’s always been the goal.”
After faltering in back-to-back races earlier in the season, Evan Noonan of Dana Hills, the defending Division III state champion, appeared to be back in top form, winning the Division 5 race in 14 minutes, 42.9 seconds, the second-fastest time of the meet behind Kushen.
Noonan, who will be trying for his third state title in a row, attributed a lack of proper nutrition for his 18th-place finish at the Orange County Championships and 10th-place finish two weeks later at the Nike Cross Country Town Twilight meet in Indiana on Oct. 5.
“I took a decent amount of time off (after the race in Indiana) because I had just been dealing with some really bad dietary issues and those races really beat me up,” Noonan said. “So, I definitely just had to fix a couple of those things and get back here and do what I can for my team.”
Corona del Mar’s Max Douglas won the Division 4 race in 15 minutes, 2.9 seconds.
Douglas, who has also finished at or near the top in several races this season, is wrapping up his second season in cross country after playing football his freshman and sophomore years.
“This is surreal right now,” Douglas said. “Joining this program and doing cross country, switching over from football, is like the best decision I’ve made for sure. I think God intended for my legs to be running distance, not on the gridiron.”
The top seven teams in Divisions 1 through 4 and the top six teams in Division 5 qualified for the state championships.
A maximum of five individual finishers, who are not members of qualifying teams and who finish in the first 20 places in their respective divisions, also advance to the state meet.
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