Back-to back-to-back!
The Ojai Valley School boys cross country team won its third Omega League championship in a row on Wednesday, earning a near-perfect score in the league final held at the flat-and-fast Soule Park course in Ojai (click here for SmugMug photo gallery of the race shot by Misty Hall).
The Spuds took five of the top six spots to complete the three-peat, led by senior Eli Roston who set a course record to earn the first individual cross country league title for an OVS male in at least two decades.
Eli’s time of 16:47 on the three-mile course smashed his own personal best mark by more than a minute.
But he was not alone. Each of the other top five runners for OVS set personal bests, including sophomore Kai Ishikawa who finished third, senior Soren Saye who took fourth, freshman Russell Zhang who finished fifth, and senior William Ramsay who took sixth place.
All runners in the top ten earned individual medals, and First Team and Second Team All-League honors. As winner of the race, Eli was named Omega League MVP.
“It was a strong showing from our boys from start to finish, and I couldn’t be prouder of the way they competed,” said OVS cross country coach Fred Alvarez.
With only joining the cross-country team at the very end of his junior year season, Eli realized his potential and, during his senior year, went on to win first place in two of the three league races before Wednesday’s league final.
Eli’s first race was one year ago at last year’s Omega League final, where he finished in fourth place with a time of 19:00.
“Over this summer, I was working on my mind more than anything,” said Eli, who is also currently training to run his first marathon.
On the girls side, several runners had impressive showings, with five OVS runners finishing in the top ten. Junior Adele Erk and senior Anna English led the way for the Spuds, with both running personal bests.
Seniors Alula Alderson and Karin Hahn, and freshman Celeste Ayala rounded out the scoring for OVS. The girls finished second to the team from the Newbury Park Adventist Academy.
“It was really a mental battle because everything hurt, and I wanted to stop,” said Alula, who gutted out a seventh place finish in just her first cross country season.
The top seven boys will be heading to the CIF preliminary meet on Nov. 11 at the famed Mt. SAC cross country course. Two weeks ago, Eli ran in the Mt. SAC cross country invitational, earning a top ten finish against some of the best small school runners in the nation.
“At this point, we’re going to put in a bit more training and then see what we can do on the hills at Mt. SAC,” coach Alvarez said. “This team is the fastest we’ve ever had, and it’s just coming together, so I’m excited about seeing them continue to compete.”
