WALNUT- On Saturday, November 15, the Boys' Varsity Cross-Country Team competed in Division II of CIF Prelims at Mt. San Antonio College. After five years of the team's birth, and five months of hard training in this season, the Patriots finally reached their goal.  CIF-SS prelims are composed of the best runners in their respective league, and the top three teams from each league. The top four teams in each division will advance to CIF-SS Finals. After Finals, the best compete in the State Meet in Fresno.

The Patriots fell short of Finals, placing 7th with a team score of 173 points and a team time of 1:22:33. Newbury Park took the last spot with a team score of 106 points and a team time of 1:21:08. They also had many other teams "stacked" in their division, such as Thousand Oaks, who are ranked 12th in the nation. If Beckman's population was 25 students smaller, the boys would have competed in Division III and would have advanced to Finals. 

Junior Aaron Perry led the team and placed 23rd overall with a time of 16:16. "Competing in CIF was at first a little nerve racking, but come race time, I felt ready and confident," he said. Sophomore Jared Allison, sophomore Brandon Perry, junior AJ Allen, sophomore Elijah Wells, senior Jimmy Shiba, and freshman Kevin Dewey followed in that order. "The whole team ran the first mile under five minutes," said Shiba. "It was a complex race since it was cold, dry, and ashy at the same time."

The team followed their plan of staying together for as long as possible. They were then supposed to pick up the pace on the second mile on the downhill of "poop-out hill" to break away from other teams before the final hill. However, on the way down "poop-out hill" of the second mile, Kevin Dewey rolled his ankle, but managed to finish the race with a time of 17: 01. His mental strength could clearly be seen while he pushed through the pain for over another mile and a half and over "reservoir hill." Their team average for this course was 16:30. This was an improvement from the Mt. SAC Invitational in which the boys had a course average of 16:37 and a team time of 1:23:07.

Even though the season ends for them, the boys hope to continue their dominance next season when they defend their League Championship title and hopefully earn a shot to compete in CIF-SS Finals. "While we are now done with our great season these athletes can be extremely proud for accomplishing something that no other Beckman team has ever done - win the Pacific Coast League championships team title and run in the CIF," said Coach Bob Day. The team's season results for all the meets can be seen at www.gopatriotsrunning.com.