Girls’ Cross-Country: Pacifica Christian moves up
The Pacifica Christian High girls’ cross-country team gets to kick it up a gear this year.
After opening its doors a year ago, the Newport Beach private school is competing on the varsity level for the first time. The school doesn’t have a league to call home yet, but it does have 40% of its girls running cross-country.
Only 50 girls attend Pacifica Christian, and 20 of them are traveling to Catalina Island for the season opener. What better way for a program to make its varsity debut than to take a 45-minute boat ride before taking on the course at the Avalon Invitational.
Coach Valerie Sizemore, who took over the program last year, returns. She has a running background, having competed in cross-country and track and field at Southern Methodist University, helping the school to two Conference USA titles.
Sizemore is excited about her top five runners, sophomore Sadie Hill, sophomore Tatiana Valente, junior Karen Muñoz, junior Daniella Manzanares and sophomore Lindsay Mull.
“In such a short amount of time our … Tritons have really excelled in this sport, both from a competitive outlook and from a leadership outlook,” Sizemore said. “To see [then-sophomore] Karen Muñoz wait at the finish line to congratulate every last runner before she herself took relief in resting or in grabbing a swig of water, was a highlight for me as a coach. To watch both our girls’ and boys’ teams run in our last struggling runner to the finish line with such compassion, encouragement and unity, was such a gift as a coach.
“I have always loved cross-country because of the bond, and this team has that.”
Pacifica Christian Girls’ Cross-Country
League: None
CIF Division: 5
Head Coach: Valerie Sizemore (first year)
Coaching Staff: John MacWillie, assistant coach; Ryan Zies, assistant coach
2015 league finish: None
2015 CIF results: None
Returning starters: Four
Returning with honors: None
Coach’s take: “I am incredibly impressed with our … Triton [cross-country] team. These ladies have stepped out in courage, founded a new team and excelled in a new sport. These ladies have trained, sacrificed and learned the sport of cross-country with so much strength, endurance and grace. I truly admire them and am honored to be their coach.”
One to watch: “I am excited to see what sophomore Sadie Hill will accomplish this season,” Sizemore said. “Being only a freshman last year as well as a first-time runner, I believe she has much potential. With further training and running experience, I believe she could make the [CIF Southern Section] Division 5 [preliminaries] this year.”
Schedule
Sept. 9: at Avalon Invitational on Catalina Island, 3 p.m.
Sept. 15: at Whittier Christian cluster meet at Ralph B. Clark Regional Park in Buena Park, 4 p.m
Oct. 1: at Central Park Invitational in Huntington Beach, 8 a.m.
Oct. 6: at The Webb School cluster meet at Irvine Central Park, 3 p.m.
Oct. 13: at Tarbut V’Torah Invitational at William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine, 3 p.m.
Oct. 28: at Apache Invitational at Arcadia County Park in Arcadia, 3 p.m.
