Buchanan Girls Cross Country Takes 3rd Place in National Competition

The Girls Cross Country team at Buchanan High School competed in a National sized event organized by Nike (Photo Buchanan High School fb)

December 3rd, at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon, seven student-athletes from the Girls Cross Country team at Buchanan High School competed in a National sized event organized by Nike.

The Nike Cross Country Nationals event is the “only true cross country national championship in high school sports” according to Cross Country Head Coach Brian Weaver.

The student-athletes who competed in the California D1 State Championship took 1st place in November, propelling them onto this national scaled event.

California, hosting its own region based on size, qualifies runners based on their performances at this California State Championship.

The student-athletes, Grace Hutchinson(12th), Sydney Sundgren (12th), Elle Lomeli (10th), Sierra Cornett (10th), Avery Hutchison (10th), Kynzlee Buckley (9th), and Tayler Torosian (9th) all qualified as a team for the Cross Country Nationals and upon traveling to Oregon to compete, took an overall third place across the nation. 

Now finished with the Cross Country season, the student-athletes will take a break to focus on their studies before the incoming 2023 Track and Field Season in which they will begin to participate in competition once again.

On the pride that the Cross Country team takes in its sport, head coach Brian Weaver, said “It’s a pretty amazing experience and honor to represent your school and your city. They worked extremely hard and they are very, very talented young ladies. It took a lot of energy from a lot of people to go and get to this level that they were able to compete at.”

Team times are calculated by adding times from the top five individuals from each school, and in the State Championship, the Buchanan Girls Cross Country team broke the Central Section record for best time.

This historic Central Section record breaker, in addition to being the State Championship winning time, was an impressive 1:29:32. 

In their 3rd Place winning competition at the Nike Cross Nationals, the girls ran a combined time of 1:31:04 with an average time of 18:13. 

Furthermore, the competition season for Cross Country has slowly dwindled down into oblivion. Just as the runners take their last steps in a race, it seems so too that the Buchanan High Championship winning Girls Cross Country Team, saved their best for last. 

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JT is a recent college grad with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. He is mainly interested in sports and entertainment but covers a wide array of subjects. He currently writes for the Fresno State Baseball Dugout Club. JT looks forward to continuing his career at the Clovis Roundup and is excited to be working closely with a community that is very proud of its people.