The Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) cross country team had a successful season this year, as the boys’ and girls’ teams both moved onto California Interscholastic Federation (CIF).

The girls team made it to the division four CIF finals in which they placed 16th overall as a team. There, the top three runners were Keera Wallace ‘26 with a time of 18:56.3, followed by Rebecca Walker ‘24 and Bennet Rodman ‘26.

Keera Wallace stated, “Cross every year goes by super fast just because of how much fun we’re having. But overall I think the season was really good.”

The boys team placed third in the division four CIF finals, which allowed them to move on to state in which they placed third overall.

The top three boys at the state meet across 5k were Chance Leandro ‘25 with a time of 15:51.6, followed by Braeden Elliott ‘24 and Viggo Bortolin ‘27.

Elliott spoke of his memories from the team, “During COVID, cross country was the only thing that we actually did during school, so I made all of my friends and it was kind of just every day I was looking forward to practice. And through that, the last four years have just been a big bonding opportunity, I became even closer with all of them.”

Head coach Jason Dinkler spoke on his favorite memory from the past season, “Seeing the boys get back on the podium at the state meet. It was a hard-fought and well-deserved opportunity to place that high in State, and it was great to see them back up on the podium.”

The cross country team will continue to train hard over the summer in order to find success in their future season and stand on the podium once again.