Eight high schools across Fremont, Newark and Union City competed once again in the Mission Valley Athletic League (MVAL) cross country championship.
Quarry Lakes in Fremont was packed with hundreds of runners and supporters who were anxiously waiting for races. Five races were scheduled: Frosh/Soph Boys 2-mile, girls’ and boys’ junior varsity 2-mile and girls’ and boys’ Varsity 3-mile. Each course wrapped around the lakes of the Fremont park.
The first group to hear the race gun go off was the Frosh/Soph boys. The 81 runners had the second largest group of the day. Running the 2-mile course, Mission San Jose of Fremont and Moreau Catholic of Hayward took over the top five spots on the results sheet. Within the top three, first place went to Santiago Henriquez – Moreau Catholic with a time of 10:29. In second and third were Mohammad Iqbal and Ahaan Sood, both of Mission San Jose with 10:50.3 and 11:01.9, respectively.
Junior Varsity girls and boys were next on the course, up to run another 2-mile race.
The girls’ JV team had all jerseys crossing the finish line in the top three within 30 seconds of each other, sending huge cheers and competitive energy throughout the crowd. Ultimately, Aditi Duggal of American took first place. Only three seconds behind at 14:11.8, was Stephanie Leung of Mission San Jose. In third came Grace Liu of James Logan with 14:26.7. The boys’ JV 2-mile was up next with the largest group of the day with 82 racers. The top two winners of the 2-mile were American’s Gabriel Wang and Benson Tang at 11:33.3 and 11:35.5, respectively. Newark Memorial’s Spencer Dix took third with 11:44.4.
The last two races of the day were the most anticipated fast paced races of the girls’ and boys’ Varsity runners. Newark Memorial Varsity girls sweep the top three spots. First, second and third places were Junior, Alice McCarty with a time of 17:47.4, Senior Grace Veloza 18:11.8 and Senior Rahwa Fekadu 18:35.9. With Newark Memorial in the top three, the school earned confirmed first in the overall team score. All three girls showed major improvement from last year as McCarty, Veloza and Fekadu placed third, ninth and sixth, respectively, in 2023’s MVAL championship.
The Varsity boys were the final runners of the meet. Another Newark Memorial first place winner crossed the finish claiming another win for the lone Newark school. Junior, Kenji Kawabata, completed the 3-mile race in 14:52.4, making his average mile time 4:57.5. Kawabata improved his time from 2023 where he came in third with a time of 15.36.5. In second, came Issac Luong of Kennedy and Michael Tellez following behind, with times of 15:08.8 and 15:25.2, respectively.
Although it was a competitive environment, students from all schools were cheering on runners in the last 200 meters of the race who needed extra motivation and energy from onlookers. Untimely, the meet created a supportive space for all runners.
Next is the North Coast Section Meet of Champions on Nov. 23 at Hayward High School.
For a full list of results of the MVAL meet, visit www.diablotiming.com
