Both the Girls and Boys cross country teams competed at CIF prelims on Nov. 15. When the dust cleared and the competition ended, both teams for the first time in Catalina Island's cross country history, qualified to compete in next weeks' CIF Finals.

The road to CIF was not easy but both teams fought hard all season.  They fought all season against their rivals Saddleback Valley Christian for the top spot in the San Joaquin League, but placed second in both the women and men teams.  Avalon would have the League individual champion in Natalie Foote who dominated the competition by beating the next person by an average of a minute.  Big surprise was freshman Stephanie Bastida who gradually excelled with each race and  squeaked in to make 1st team all league.  On the men's side, Jose Montano, Michael Wenger, Juan Olvera, and Jesus Silva earned 1st team all league.  The men had more 1st team runners than the League Champion SVC.  These accomplishments would place Avalon in a position to qualify as a team go to CIF Finals.

The day of the Prelims was forecasted to be dry and 95 degrees.  What was not expected was that it would reach these temperatures due to fires.  CIF worried that it would affect the runners and made the decision to shorten the courses to 2 miles instead of 3.  This worried the Lancers because they were powerful uphill runners and the mile that was cut out had 4 hills.  2 miles means that every team could be competitive and had a shot at making the finals.   Now nothing was guaranteed and race strategy had to be changed.

The men would go first, with 3 of the top 5 teams in division 5 in their heat.  Avalon took off to a slow start in a fast heat, getting caught in the middle of the pack and having to fight their way to the front.  At the mile mark Montano and Wagner were sitting in 29th and 30th place with the rest of Avalon's pack in the mid 40s and into the 50s.  Coaches were worried they would not be able to make up the placing and would sit just outside of the top 5 to qualify.  Then Montano, who for the first time this season is fully recovered from injury, made a move and passed up 18 people in the last mile to place 11th and Wenger would move to 21st with the rest of the pack jumping up into the late 20s and 30s.  It would be close but Avalon would earn the 5th spot to move to CIF Finals.

The Ladies were coming in with the same hopes and desires as the men to qualify.  But being in the same heat as 6 of the top 10 teams, their dream was brought down to the reality that they would have to have their best race that day.  Race they did.  Foote would go out strong with the lead pack and maintain the pace to finish 7th overall, which qualified her as an individual.  It was up to the rest of the team to bring in the qualification for the team.  Stephanie Bastida again would show her potential moving up 9 spots in mile 2 to come in 17th. Alexis Romero moved in to 41st and Amy Bastida 43rd with Diana Campos finishing it out at 61st.  The effort was enough to move them ahead of ranked teams to finish 5th in the heat qualifying them to Finals.

For the first time in history of Avalon cross country, the Lancers qualified a team to compete in the CIF Finals.  They didn't qualify one team but both teams.  Avalon was able to do this with hard work, dedication, and a desire to be better today than they were yesterday.  With the race this week including all 3 miles, the Lancers are looking to do another historical event; get to State.  Go Lancers!