On the overcast morning of Aug. 31, 2024, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) cross country team raced their season debut going against 24 top-level teams in the Gaucho Invitational at the University California Santa Barbara (UCSB). The team had strong individual performances in their respective races, positioning themselves as a top team in the league for the upcoming season.
The five-kilometer (5k) race took athletes around the nearby UCSB lagoon and through a portion of the campus. With a challenging course ahead, the Dragons persevered, posting strong times and placing well in their races.
The meet began with the girls championship 5k where the Dragons gave their all to the course, and despite some impressive individual performance, came up short with a team score of 178, earning them seventh place overall. Keera Wallace ‘26 battled it out for a spot in the front of the pack for a majority of the race and medaled with a time of 20:07.8 and an 11th place finish.
Isabella Efner ‘25, the second place finisher for Foothill Tech, commented on her experience during the meet, having stated, “Since it was the first meet, there was noticeably a little more tension in the air and you could tell people were nervous … Individually I did ok, definitely a huge improvement from previous years.”
Shortly after the girls championship race subsequently came the boys championship 5k, where Foothill Tech shined and ended in an impressive third place finish overall with a team score of 72. The Dragons made their dominance on the course known with all Foothill Tech runners placing within the top 30 of the race.
Viggo Bortolin ‘27 led the boys as he set a personal record for the course, running a time 16:20.7 and placing in an impressive 11th. Following closely behind Bortolin, in 14th place, was Jaden Prillhart ‘26, running a time of 16:27.3.
Foothill’s runners kept a tight spread amongst the scoring athletes with only 29 seconds separating the first and fifth runners. The Dragons second runner to cross the line, Prillhart, commented on the atmosphere of the race and the strategy going in, “They’re was a strong sense of community leading into the race, we ran together for a majority of the race which really allowed us to push each other.”
Overall, the Dragons hope to build on the success of this meet and use the positive momentum to their advantage as they prepare for their next race, Jaguar Invite on Sept. 6.
Cross Country by Audrey Y on on Exposure
