By Leonard COUTIN

This season’s head cross-country coach Christopher Davis is a teacher at Clark Magnet School who has volunteered his time and efforts in promoting a solid cross-country program at Rosemont Middle School. Successfully attracting large numbers to his cross-country program the experience has been valuable to the runners. Already having 27 runners in the middle school first divisional race at the Staub-Barnes meet in September, the numbers keep increasing. This past weekend, the Rosemont team attended the Mt. SaAC Invitational Middle School Cross-Country division with 36 runners participating. Many had their first performances on a very hilly up-and-down course.

The seventh grade girls’ team consisting of just five runners – Jazlyn Couch, Emilia Greenway, Ruby Hayes, Kaitlin Kenney and Sarah Martellino – took fourth place, which featured 25 schools and 167 runners. Couch took third place on the two-mile course with a time of 13.25.

Rosemont’s eighth grade girls took 11th place out of 23 schools. Ava Martin was the fastest Rosemont girl, earning 15th place with a time of 14:56. The eighth grade boys’ team also took 11th place out of 23 schools. Justin Jeong was the top Rosemont finisher in the eighth grade division with a time of 13:19.

The seventh-grade boys team finished in the 14th team position among 28 schools. Liam Zadoorian was the top finisher for the seventh grade boys with a time of 13:45.

This group of runners was only the second in the recent history of Rosemont Middle School to participate in the nationally known Mt. SAC cross-country invitational held at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. The first races were held in 1948. Now more than 23,000 runners from 500 schools (elementary through college) participate in this invitational cross-country race. Last year, seven eighth graders represented Rosemont.

The program has offered several venues for the athletes to run in. In the Running Under the Oaks 5K (held at CV Park) in September, Marsden Havrilesky took first place in his age group (12 and under) and fourth overall in the 5K race; Justin Jeong took second in his age group (13-19) and second overall in the 5K race; Ruby Hayes took first place in her age group (12 and under), and Claire Lindstrom and Samantha Talbot took first and second places respectively in their age group (13-19).

The program continues to thrive, not only with the help of Davis but also with his supporting coaches Harriet Hayes, Sherry Owens and Carolyn Sion.

The final event for the year is a cross-country dual meet against La Cañada Middle School vs. Rosemont at Rosemont School on Oct. 28.

  Leonard Coutin