For the first time in Ojai Valley School history, both the boys and girls cross country teams earned league championship titles in the same season.
Both teams captured Omega League crowns at Wednesday’s league final held at the fast-and-flat Soule Park cross country course in Ojai.
For the OVS girls, it is the fourth league title in the past eight years. However, all of the previous titles had been earned in the Condor League, making this the girls’ first Omega League championship.
For the boys, Wednesday’s dominating performance brought the team its second Omega League title in a row.
Both teams earned postseason berths and plan to run Friday, Nov. 11, in the CIF prelims at the famed Mt. SAC cross country course
“We have worked since the start of the summer toward winning the league and making it to CIF,” said head coach Fred Alvarez. “Our runners on Wednesday exceeded all expectations.”
The boys were led by senior Logan Wallace, who placed second overall in a personal best time. In his first-ever cross country meet, junior Eli Roston came in fourth overall, senior Eugene Fisher took the sixth spot, sophomore Shuhei Kotani grabbed ninth and senior Emanuel Zagata-Jacobson rounded out the scoring with a 10th place finish.
All runners in the top ten earned individual medals, and First Team and Second Team All-League honors. Beyond those accomplishments, six OVS runners broke the 20 minute barrier, which had been a goal all season, and most runners set personal or season’s bests on Wednesday.
On the girls side, sophomore Prudence Currey-Schafer ran her best race of the season, taking the individual league title with her first place overall finish.
In just her first year of cross country, Pru became the fifth league champion from Ojai Valley School since 2011, joining an elite group of athletes who captured individual glory while helping lead their teams to victory.
“I’ve been fortunate to have some talented runners pass through the program in recent years,” Mr. Alvarez said. “Pru carries on that tradition, and I couldn’t be more proud.”
Juniors Karin Hahn and Elizabeth Ramsay placed fourth and fifth respectively, senior captain India Getty-Pruss came in sixth, and senior Zimo Zeng secured a 10th place finish.
Just like the boys, all five girls in the top ten received individual medals and earned First Team and Second Team All League honors. As league champion, Pru was named the Omega League MVP.
“Our team performed at the highest level I’ve ever seen,” said boys team captain Emanuel Zagata-Jacobson. “Both the boys and the girls dominated, no other teams came close to our excellence on the course, and I’m just happy that we all succeeded.”
