A pair of local schools saw action recently on the racecourses in scholastic cross country action. The La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) cross country teams competed recently at the Mt. SAC Invitational. LJCD’s young varsity girls squad competed in one of the Division IV and V varsity races. Team leader Sam Staszak had a tough race but still finished in 22:31 and beat last year’s time by 18 seconds, finishing 39th. Freshman Lily Wolfenzon wasn’t far behind in 22:43 and 44th place. Maggie Taylor was hampered by a minor foot injury and finished in 23:47, alongside teammate Alina Wong. LJCD’s scoring was completed by Emily Domanico, who suffered some painful blisters but still raced. Freshman Blanca Yanez also put forth her best effort of the year and was the team’s sixth runner, as the Lady Torreys finished 11th of the 22 teams in their race. In the junior varsity race, the boys were led by junior Chase Mertz and freshman Jeff Clancy, who finished with the same time, 20:04. Mertz’ experience helped him edge out his teammate at the line and take 43rd place. Sophomore Trevor Alexander was close behind in 20:29 and 57th place, while senior Garrett Schneider wasn’t far back in 20:47 and 63rd. Closing out LJCD’s team effort was freshman Max Gruenberg in 22:00 and 89th. On the varsity boys side, LJCD competed in the Division IV Sweepstakes race, which was stacked with state-ranked talent. “We’ve done well in this race the past two years, but this year our top runner, junior Lee Klitzner, was in his first week back after a bout with mononucleosis,” LJCD head coach Scott Sanders noted. “Knowing that Lee would not be anywhere near his best, our expectations were tempered; we hoped for some solid individual times and a respectable team finish. We got both, and then some.” Senior co-captain Alex Fleischhacker avenged a poor race here last year with a huge personal record, finishing in 16:37 and ninth place, a terrific result against some of the best Division IV runners in the state. Sophomore Noah Wolfenzon (20th) and senior Dennis Roth (23rd) also finished sub-17:00, in 16:55 and 16:59, respectively. Wolfenzon’s time was more than a minute faster than last year. “Lee showed yet again what a true competitor he is, pushing himself to a 17:42 finish for 45th place, better than more than half of the field,” Sanders remarked. LJCD’s scoring was completed by sophomore Jake Mack, who shaved almost a minute off last year’s time in finishing in 18:10 (66th). LJCD’s sixth and seventh runners were freshman Josh Pooley, impressive in his Mt. SAC debut with an 18:33 finish, and junior Phillip Poyhonen, who finished in 19:10. “The boys proved yet again that they belong in this group and in this race, finishing in a tie for fourth of the 16 teams racing,” Sanders added. “Our team-time was better than the team we tied, but they beat us on the sixth man.” As Sanders noted, “All in all, a respectable day for us on the famed Mt. SAC course. Many runners improved greatly over last year and set course p.r.’s [personal records], and many had a good first run on the challenging course.” In recent Western League action, La Jolla High’s varsity girls team stepped up to the plate and ran their best times of the year in a loss versus Cathedral. Of the only 19 girls who ran, 13 had personal bests and two equaled their bests. Out of those there were three that improved exceptionally on the varsity: freshman Megan Carroll improved 1:17 and junior Catherine Russell improved by 51 seconds. La Jolla’s first girl to finish was senior Tatevick Simavoryan in 20:16. On the junior varsity side, Allison Dyer improved 1:12.