GIRLS
After an impressive season of races, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) girls cross country team came off their second-place finish at the TCAA League Finals ready to enter the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) postseason with aspirations of going far and placing highly among some of Southern California’s toughest competitors. The team qualified for and advanced through the CIF Prelims, held Nov. 15-16, 2024, at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. Sac) but the Dragons were unfortunately eliminated during the finals, blocking their path to the state meet.
The Dragons prelims performance highlighted the team’s strengths and cohesive race strategy, with the girls staying tightly packed and remaining only a few spots apart. They finished with a final score of 129, narrowly beating sixth-place Costa Mesa High School (Costa Mesa) to qualify.
The team’s strongest runner, Keera Wallace ’26, placed an impressive seventh, running 19:39.1 in the three-mile race. Following closely was teammate Bella Efner ’25, who kicked down the finish line with a time of 21:26.5, securing 32nd place against some of the fastest runners in the state.
Wallace described the atmosphere and experience of competing at such a high level, stating: “The CIF experience is always filled with excitement and energy, and everyone shows up focused and ready to compete … My race strategy was to just give it my all, knowing any race could be my last.”
Closing out their season with CIF Finals they planned on following through the momentum of prelims and giving their all against the top teams in Division Four. In spite of their best efforts, they would fall short of success and come in last place, ending their season still proud of all they’d accomplished.
Efner commented on the emotions of being a senior on the team and setting foot on the course for the final time, having said, “Being a senior during CIF felt so surreal. The feeling I had on the line when the gun was about to go off was unlike anything I’ve ever felt, just knowing this was about to be my last cross country race … it’s definitely a bittersweet feeling.”
As they send off their departing seniors the Dragons look ahead to their next season with hopes of continuing to make their presence known in the Southern Section.
BOYS
After paving their way through a season of ups and downs, with injuries and tough competition. The Foothill Tech boys cross country team entered the CIF post season ready to follow up their impressive third-place finish at state the year prior and make their fellow teammates proud.
After easy qualifications through both CIF prelims and finals hosted at Mt. Sac, they would run away with a third-place podium finish at the 2024 CIF State Cross Country Championships to close out an impressive season of perseverance and dedication.
The CIF Southern Section Prelims would allow the boys to test the water, conserving much of their energy for the later races to come. The scoring runners kept a tight pack running within mere seconds of one another all the way through the line, gliding into CIF finals with a second-place finish scoring 65 points, just shy of first place.
Going into CIF Finals the Dragons knew they still had a lot of ground to cover and work to be done in order to secure a high placing at state. Brandon Wofford ‘25 described the emotions and performance of the team throughout the CIF post-season and finals, having shared “we had a pretty shaky start to the CIF season at CIF finals where our team got super spread out and a lot of people didn’t race well. The whole season we’ve been doing our best to stay as a pack and work together but that didn’t show at CIF finals.”
In spite of a less-than-ideal performance during finals, they still managed to coast to a third-place finish. The dragon’s top runner Viggo Bortolin fought through droves of fellow competitors to secure an impressive sixth-place finish with a final time of 15:24.8 in the three-mile setting a personal season record and cementing himself as one of the fastest in the division.
Emotions ran high as nerves built in preparation for the CIF State Cross Country Championships at Woodward Park, just outside Fresno, Calif. With hopes of replicating their previous year’s success, the team entered the meet confident in their training and ready to compete as a team and run hard through the finish.
The Dragons would make their seniors proud and take a podium spot with a third-place finish scoring 147. The Dragon’s top runner Chance Leandro ‘25, coming off an injury earlier in the season, would lead Foothill Tech, running an impressive 15:49.8 in the 5000 meters. Followed closely behind by Bortolin running a 15:50.2 placing 27th just two spots shy of Leandro.
The rest of the Dragons followed in order of Henry Fulk ‘25, Eli Billings ‘26, Wofford, Jaden Prillhart ‘26 and Conor White ‘25 who all performed highly in this competitive race for the Division Four State title.
Prillhart commented on the dedication of the team as well as the work put in behind the scenes, commenting “We ran hard,
and I gave it my all, everyone was really locked in during the morning of the race. I really just tried staying on [Wofford] and carrying my speed through the finish.”
The boys cross country team closed out their season proud of their accomplishments and motivated to continue building on their success next year.
