Burroughs’ Hirsch claims elite cross-country victory at Mt. SAC

Burroughs High’s Alexander Hirsch captured a championship, Indians junior Emily Virtue and Crescenta Valley’s Colin FitzGerald finished in the top 10 of their respective sweepstakes races and Burbank’s Gabby Collins and Elijah Parrott also placed in the top 10.

When asked the last time a Burroughs runner won an individual race at Mt. SAC, veteran coach John Peebles was at a loss.

“I don’t know, maybe 10 years,” Peebles said. “It’s been a long time.”

Peebles witnessed Hirsch make history when the Indians junior won the Division I and II Boys’ Team Sweepstakes in a time of 15 minutes, 05 seconds.

“It feels amazing to win, especially because a lot of other great runners have run on this course,” said Hirsch, who was victorious despite not topping his personal-best mark of 14:46. “I remember the excitement of last year, of finishing in top 10. I was just really happy to be back and win this great race.”

Hirsch had a consistent three-to-five second lead over Claremont’s Ryan Renken (second, 15:07) over the final 500 meters, but was never certain of victory until he crossed the finish line.

“I had no idea I had this race at any time,” Hirsch said. “Even going up the gauntlet, I didn’t think I had victory secured.”

As for the team standings, the CIF Southern Section Division I fourth-ranked Indians finished 10th with 261 points. Burroughs was upset in the process by Pacific League rival Arcadia, which took ninth with 260 points.

Senior Timothy Wells earned 15th for Burroughs in 15:28, while junior Jagdeep Chahal took 39th (15:51) as the Indians finished with three top-50 efforts.

Hirsch’s No. 1 rival in the Pacific League this season has been FitzGerald, who ran along with his teammates in the Division I and II Individual Sweepstakes.

FitzGerald finished fifth with a personal-best mark of 15:10, which broke his previous top course time of 15:24.

The result was impressive given FitzGerald overcame slipping and falling at the race’s start. Even with the finish and time, FitzGerald wasn’t pleased.

“I’m not happy,” FitzGerald said. “I wanted to come out strong and I don’t know what happened. I should have been up higher for sure.”

As a team, the Falcons finished fourth with 143 points aided by strong efforts from Manan Vats (20th, 15:52), Zach Johnson (25th, 16:00) and Artin Allahverdian (41st, 16:20).

The Burroughs girls were the last squad to compete in an elite race, the Division I and II Individual Sweepstakes.

While only four girls ran, Virtue made her impact by taking ninth in 18:02.

“[I’m not] feeling too good today,” said Virtue, who was well off her personal-best mark of 17:21. “I don’t know what it was, it’s just I didn’t have it in the hills.”

The highest team finish of the day went to the Division I 12th-ranked Burbank girls, who placed second in the Division I yellow race with 117 points, which trailed only Mission Viejo (40).

After missing much of her junior season due to injuries and health concerns, Collins is making up for lost time. She obliterated her previous personal-best time of 20:40 by finishing fourth in 19:07.

“Mt. SAC is probably one of my favorite courses, so I’m super excited I got top five,” Collins said. “It feels really good to be able to run much faster this year and be up with some of the faster girls.”

The Burbank girls were the only area team to finish their scoring five through the top 50 as freshman Sol Fernandez (15th, 20:17), senior Jamie Giammichele (26th, 20:51), sophomore Natalie Danao (35th, 21:07) and junior Noemi Apreza (37th, 21:10) followed Collins.

The Burbank boys took ninth in their Division I blue race with 244 points with senior Elijah Parrott finishing sixth in a mark of 16:03.

Parrott was joined in the top 50 by one teammate in senior Angel Flores (18th, 16:35).

The Crescenta Valley girls competed in the Division I green race and took 16th with 412 points, led by the efforts of sophomore Melissa Owens (56th, 20:13).

Glendale didn’t field full teams, but had individuals compete Saturday.

Junior Jordan Lo was the Nitros’ top girls’ runner in the Division I green race and placed 95th (24:48), while Dexter Medina was the best boys’ runner in the Division I red race and took 100th in 18:27.