Varsity cross country runner Marius Nielson (’26) runs along “dam hill,” a steep portion of the Carbon Canyon Regional Park course during the Brea Invitational on Oct. 5. (Courtesy of Demetri Garcia)

1,600 cross country athletes from 37 Southern California schools bounced with adrenaline at the start of the 32nd Brea Invitational in Carbon Canyon Regional Park on Oct. 5.

36 Wildcats were among the competitors vying for a top 20 finish on a notoriously trying 3.1 mile course and the steep incline of the Fullerton Dam (or “The Big Dam Hill” to the runners).

By race’s end, boys’ varsity placed second overall in Division 2, led by captain Marius Nielson (‘26) who came in fifth place out of 168 runners, with a 5K time of 16:56.

Kevin Sandoval (‘25) from Glendora High School was the overall boys’ champion with a time of 16:09.

The varsity girls’ team faced stiff competition with the top two runners, Marley McCullough (‘25) and Keaton Robar (‘25) from Newport Harbor coming in at 18:23 and 18:25, respectively.

Because of an injury on the varsity team and a lack of scoring runners, BOHS girls did not place in the overall rankings. 

Despite the setbacks, varsity captain and top girls’ BOHS runner, Mia Luna (‘26), finished the race with a time of 20:46, good for seventh out of 114 varsity runners in Division 2, and earning her a top 20 medal. 

When reflecting on the event, Luna said, “Our girls team wasn’t as strong as we were [in our] last race,” when the team earned first place in San Diego. On Saturday, however, “there were lots of very competitive teams, so this race sets [the team] up for races in the future.”

Competing runners were split up into ten races, beginning with frosh-soph alternating between boys and girls. The junior varsity and varsity races were then broken down into three sets of races: runners one and two, three through five, and ending with combined races of junior varsity and the remaining varsity runners.

Issabella Garcia (‘27) rose to the challenge and finished with the second best Wildcat race time of 22:54, a personal record on this course.

Garcia used a positive mindset to motivate herself throughout the grueling, steep race, especially while pushing up the dam.

“I just thought about how there are a lot of downhills and to use them to my advantage and not hold back,“ Garcia said. 

Even with the difficulties of the race, Wildcat runners are proud of their home course.

“What I love about the Brea Invitational,” Luna said, “is that it is a true cross country race: it has hills, dirt, and grass, unlike our other races which are just on flat pavement.”

Tomorrow, cross country heads north to compete in the 45th Asics Clovis Invitational, the current CIF State Championship course in California, from Oct. 11-12 at Woodward Park in Fresno. BOHS athletes will race in the Medium Schools division, with 282 other teams competing the same day.

The renowned course is a mixture of surfaces, including grass, asphalt, and dirt, along with a couple of big hills to test the elite runners. 

“To get on this course and get to know it is really important as a runner,” boys’ head coach Dreux Valenti said.  “The more you get on a course, the more comfortable you are with it, and you know as an individual where it gets tough, and where you really need to push.”

For the Wildcats making the 258 mile trek to Fresno, the early arrival is an opportunity to get familiar with the course, scope out the competition, and bond as a team.

Girls’ varsity runner Sarah Garrigue (‘26) is looking forward to the opportunity of getting to bond at the meet-opening team dinner with other schools. “Staying and traveling together will be a great experience,” Garrigue said. 

Regardless of how the BOHS runners fare on Friday and Saturday, the coaches will use Clovis as a marker to gauge team preparation for the rest of the season. 

“Clovis is our first meet that I really start looking at what we are as a team,” Valenti said. “[It tells us] what we, as coaches, need to focus on for the next few weeks before league and CIF.”