This past Friday, Corona del Mar returned to their annual tradition of attending the Irvine Invitational. With several different schools attending —Yorba Linda to Crean Lutheran and Oaks Christian—the race had to be split into many heats. The air was dry, and you could hear kids coughing as they made their way back to the tents post-race. Invitationals are often the most thrilling competitions of the season, and this past Saturday, most of CdM’s runners entered into the Asics Laguna Beach Invitational.

That afternoon, several runners placed well in their events. Sophomore Ava Simos is now third in the county for the 100 hurdles, clocking 16.51 seconds. In the 300m hurdles, she also placed first, with a time of 47.57. In the 400m, Senior Zach Harris placed fourth with a lifetime best of 52.01. In the field events, senior Jason Plumb brought home the first-place prize in the long-jump event with a 7.04m jump. As for some post-race commentary, freshman Sienna Nestorov stated that “even though our handoff cost us a lot of time in the 4x100m relay, I know we have so much potential to improve.” Everyone in the race did a great job.

Irvine High School was a very nice place to run: the stadium was large and packed with parents cheering on their kids as they leaned toward the finish line. “I loved this experience because our hurdle team did so well and I ended up with a personal best,” junior Ashley Riba expressed. The track was in a huge pit at the bottom of the stadium, the kind that makes you feel like a professional before you toe the line and blast off at the sound of the gun. Still early in the season, there are still so many opportunities for shiny new personal records to be shattered again and again.