Captain Michael Camilo Torres leads the Fillmore Flashes in a very fast 1457. This was Camilo’s season opener on the fast Cool Breeze Brookside Golf course at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Above is Fillmore Senior Alianna Tapia who ran a personal best to finish very well in 15th place, posting a time of 19:08. Photo credit Michael Torres.

On Friday, September 3rd, a select group of athletes from the Fillmore Cross Country Team competed in the Cool Breeze Invitational in Pasadena. Freshman Niza Laureano (above) who was the second finisher in 81st place with a time of 20:58.6. Photo credit Michael Torres.

On Friday, September 3rd a select group of athletes from the Fillmore Cross Country teams traveled to Pasadena to compete in the highly competitive Cool Breeze Invitational. This meet features 112 teams and 3,734 athletes. The competition is run on the Brookside Country Club Golf Course, adjacent to the Rose Bowl, west side. The 5 K course is flat and fast and runs during the heat of the day into the cool evening hours of sunset.

The first race of the day, the Varsity Girls Divisions 3, 4, and 5 toed the starting line at 7:34 PM. The race featured 231 competitors. The top finisher for the Flashes was senior Alianna Tapia. Alianna ran a personal best to finish very well in 15th place, posting a time of 19:08. Niza Laureano, a freshman was Fillmore’s second finisher in 81st place in 20:58.6. She was followed by Andrea Laureano 111th in 22:00.8, Nataly Vigil 126th in 22:26.1, Monique Hurtado 138th in 22:45.9, Angelica Herrera 139th in 22:47.9, Alexandra Martinez 154th in 23:18.4, Liliana Montesano 162nd in 23:32.1, Diana Santa Rosa 198th in 24:54.7, and Alexa Martinez 219th in 28:34.3. In team scoring, the girls finished in 19th place out of 28 complete teams.

Next to line up was the Varsity Boys in a competitive race of 264 athletes. This race provided a lot of excitement for the Fillmore fans, athletes, and coaching staff. Fillmore was led by senior Michael Camilo Torres who went to the front and led most of the race before finishing in second place. His time was an excellent early season mark of 14:57.3. Let me put this in perspective for you, Camilo finished in 7th place overall when combining all Divisions 1 through 4, this was a total of 1,684 athletes. Yes, that is a thousand, five hundred plus. Wow! In second place, second year runner Josh Estrada finished in 96th place in 17:38.14, followed by Kobe Lizarraga 112th in 17:55.5, Nicholas Hurtado 144th in 18:26.5, Angel Garcia 161st in 18:45.9, and Angel Laureano 212th in 20:01.9.

The Flashes will next compete at Lake Casitas in the Ojai Invitational on Saturday, September 11th at 8:55 AM.