As the 2022 cross country season started, one thing was evident to coach Kristen Goossens. The team would be young.
"I want to see these younger, new kids not be afraid of setting a new tone for what it means to be a part of the cross-country team at OLu."
The Lancers girls team would be using the leadership of seniors Kira Anderson and Caroline Kargenian to help guide the younger runners.
The schedule for the 2022 season included seven meets before Trinity League Finals in late October.
In the second meet of the season, the Lancers finished 7th out of 23 teams at the Woodbridge Invitational. Kargenian and Anderson each ran sub-19-minute times.
At the Dana Hills Invitational, OLu produced their most memorable moment of the regular season. Kargenian finished 1st with a time of 19:04.
In early October, the Lancers headed to Fresno for the Clovis Invitational. They came home 14th out of 31 teams with the group of Kargenian, Anderson, Sarabella Stakley, Jessica VandenBerg, Ashley Miller, and Amber Larsen.
The following weekend at the OC Championships, OLu put up their best team performance of the season with a 2nd place finish.
OLu finished 4th as a group to round out the regular season at Trinity League Finals. Anderson, Kargenian, and Stakley finished in the top 20, which earned them 2nd-Team All-League honors.
On Saturday, November 12t, the girls cross country team qualified for the CIF Finals meet by finishing 5th in heat 1 of the Division 4 Prelims at Mt. Sac.
Individually, OLu placed from 15th to 45th.
On a windy Saturday morning, the girls cross country team competed in the CIF Finals at Mt. Sac. The division 4 group had 16 teams in the race, with seven qualifying for the state meet.
The girls finished 15th in a very deep division. Individually, OLu had six girls run on Saturday with the following times:
The Lancer's season wrapped up with their 3rd consecutive CIF Finals berth.
Learn more about the Lancers Cross Country team at oluathletics.org.