Since their last Newsbreaker feature on October 2nd, the Breakers’ Cross Country has seen a great deal of success. October 5, the team competed in their own PG Invitational at Palo Corona Regional Park, hosted alongside the Big Sur International Marathon. Betinho Zunguze (10) took second place in the Frosh-Soph Boys Race with a time of 18:20, and fellow sophomore Nika Berezina took third place in the Frosh-Soph Girls Race with a time of 22:50. At the same time, Junior Antony Gabrik landed in the top-30 of a 93-person Varsity Boys race with a time of 18:05.
However, the PG Invitational was merely a tune-up for the league meets in the following weeks. During Fall Break, on October 16, 2024, Breakers’ Cross Country traveled to Pinto Lake County Park in Watsonville to race in their last league meet before the PCAL Championships on November 2. Despite missing Milo Nothnagle (11), the Breakers still overmatched their competition to win the meet handily with 34 points compared to the 60 put up by second place finishers Soledad (fewer points is better in Cross Country). The win was solidified by 1st, 2nd, 4th, 13th, and 14th place finishes in league competition from Antony Gabrik (11), Betinho Zunguze (10), Tadeo Ortiz (11), Aidan McFarland-Walton (10), and Jonah De Leon (10), respectively. On the Girls’ side, Nika Berezina (10) placed 2nd among 55 girls in league competition.
Going into the PCAL Championships at Palo Corona, the Breakers knew that without a significant improvement in their times from their last league meet at Palo Corona, they would not directly meet the qualifications for the CCS Championships on November 16th. They could either qualify through a time requirement or by placing 12th or higher out of the 24 teams competing at Palo Corona that Saturday, neither of which had been met in earlier meets. However, the Breakers remained determined going into Saturday and they were able to attain both of the possible qualification criteria for the CCS championships, making them the first Breakers team to compete at CCS since 2018. Antony Gabrik (11), who set a personal record time of 17:59, and Betinho Zunguze (10), with a personal record time of 18:08, placed first and second in Cypress league competition, while placing 22nd and 29th in the overall meet. In fact, every Varsity runner set a personal record for the Palo Corona course at the PCAL championships, most notably Aidan-McFarland Walton (10) and Joey Grief (10) who shaved off 55 seconds and one minute and 34 seconds off their previous times to get times of 20:01 and 20:51, respectively. In addition, the Breakers’ Boys team also won their league, the Cypress Division. Nika Berezina (10) set a personal record of 22:43 to individually qualify for the CCS Championships by beating the Girls’ qualification time at 23:53.
After two weeks of break and preparation, the Breakers took on their next challenge at the CCS Championships at the Crystal Springs Cross Country course in Belmont, CA. The course was not new to most of the team as all, except for Grief and Nothnagle, had competed at the course at the Crystal Springs Invitational on October 12. Despite a chance to qualify for the State Championships on November 30th, the Breakers fell short of the prerequisite of a 4th place or higher team finish by placing 8th of 16 Division 5 teams. Antony Gabrik (11) and Betinho Zunguze (10) finished neck-and-neck at 40th and 41st place with times of 17:42 and 17:43 on the 2.95-mile course as Zunguze set a personal record. Tadeo Ortiz, Aidan McFarland-Walton, Milo Nothnagle, and Joey Grief all set personal bests as well with times of 18:14, 19:40, 19:52, and 20:09 respectively. Nika Berezina placed 28th out of 75 competitors in the Girls’ race with a time of 21:43.
The Breakers’ exceptional cross-country season sets the stage for even greater success for next year, with league promotions and no seniors graduating from varsity. Motivated by a chance at state qualification, the team continues training even into the offseason in preparation for next year.
