Woodbridge Distance Classic
Last updated on September 24, 2023 at 5:43 pm
Our Team Tent will be set up next to the timeline between soccer fields 4 & 5
Saturday – September 16, 2023
Great Park Sports Complex: 8000 Great Park Blvd, Irvine, CA 92618
2018’s largest XC meet in the world with over 16,000 runners (14,000+ 2023), 460+ teams, and top nationally ranked teams including 16 out-of-state teams. Please allow plenty of time to park (you must purchase a $20 prepaid parking ticket, link below) and walk to our team tent. Restaurants and food trucks will be available.
Go Fan Prepaid Parking (Saturday for ET)
All 2023 Team Entries (over 14,000 runners from 16 states)
Bus Schedule – 2 buses.
Please turn in your Transportation Exemption Form if not taking the bus.
Departure: 1:40 pm (1st bus, all boys and Novice girls except Varsity), 3:30 pm (2nd bus, rest of the team except Varsity)
Return Departure: 10:45 pm. Only 1 bus will return. Limited space!
Race Schedule – New for 2023
- 3:50 pm – Boys Novice
- 4:02 pm – Girls Novice
- 4:22 pm – Boys Frosh
- 4:46 pm – Boys Soph
- 5:10 pm – Boys Junior
- 5:34 pm – Boys Senior (No Sr 2023)
- 5:58 pm – Girls Frosh
- 6:22 pm – Girls Soph
- 6:46 pm – Girls Jr/Sr Only
- 7:34 pm – Girls Varsity
- 8:22 pm – Boys Varsity (No Varsity 2023)
- 8:54 pm – Girls Varsity Rated
- 9:14 pm – Boys Varsity Rated
Boys Sweepstakes Race
Girls Sweepstakes Race
2023 Runner of the Meet
- Girls Novice – Nathania Janto
- Boys Novice – Maxim Stathakis
- Boys Frosh – Jason Aldridge
- Boys Sophomore – Nathan Mavros
- Boys Junior – Zander Barrera
- Girls Frosh – Samantha Danaher
- Girls Sophomore – Kiana Mehrandand-Duran
- Girls JV / Girls Varsity – Avery Miller
- Girls Varsity Rated – Gwen Williams
- Boys Varsity Rated – Josh Barron
2023 Race Recap
Boys Novice: We started the day with a collection of boys looking to get valuable racing experience in a big field of competitors. The majority of our athletes in this group were running their first-ever cross country race, including newcomer freshmen Frank Cortes, Phin Fuge, Nic Lam, Max Stathakis, Luis Torres and Jose Vences Huerta. These athletes were led by Orion Lee, Xavier Lee, Caleb Lee and Sam Williams who all previously represented El Toro at the Saddleback Cup. For running your first ever 3-mile race, there are few better experiences than the Woodbridge Invitational, and you could feel the excitement watching these athletes! The boys were led early at the first mile by Sam who crossed the 1-mile marker at 6:49.2. Following him was Luis at 7:00.2, Nic and Max running together at 7:22, and Jose, Orion, Xavier, Frank and Phin all packed closely at 7:50-7:51. After holding on for the second mile, the group surged to a 7th place finish with our athletes moving up an average of 10 spots in the last mile. Luis led the charge, moving up 20 places in the final mile to finish 65th in 22:13 with Sam just 3 spots behind him in 22:16. Max capped a huge day to finish 3rd for El Toro in 23:21 with Nic and Orion closing out our scoring 5 in 23:30 and 23:49. Runner of the Meet (RotM) honors go to Max, who greatly exceeded expectations to score for our team with a big time. Honorable mention goes to Luis who ran a very smart and strong race to lead our group.
Girls Novice: The Novice Girls ran with great potential! All of them finished with better times than some of this year’s top sophomores based on their last year’s times. Leading the pack was Aryssa “Nasi” Negahdauree finishing with a 25:05 finish (8:22/mile), followed by Nathania Janto in 28:21 (9:27/mile), Alex Dutra in 29:57 (9:57/mile), and Azelyn Pandey with 30:51 (10:17/mile).
Boys Frosh: Our freshmen group came into this race ready to compete after a great opener at the Saddleback Cup. The coaches knew this team was fit and would perform well at the 3-mile distance, and this group did not disappoint. Working together early at the mile mark within the top 25 runners were Levi Varela (5:28.4) and Cole Bulman (5:31.1), with Jason Aldridge (5:40.5), the comeback kid after dealing with an injury in the previous race, following only a few seconds behind. Behind them were Kyle Doherty (5:46.6), Asher Gould (5:46.6) and Aritra Chakraborty (5:47.1) packed together and moving up. The summer miles began to show in the 2nd and 3rd mile as the boys began to attack the field, moving up to finish in 3rd place as a team (out of 25 total) led by an outstanding last mile and finishing kick by Levi to cross the line in 4th place in 16:41. Following him was Cole (24th, 17:12), Jason (35th, 17:41), Kyle (41st, 17:48) and Aritra (45th, 17:57) to finish out our scoring 5. Not too far behind was Asher (75th, 18:39), Aiden Bulman (150th, 20:25) and Caleb Lee (196th, 21:41). RotM goes to Jason Aldridge for showing poise and coming back after a tough last race.
Boys Sophomore: Coaches knew this race would be a fun one to watch. We had a collection of boys that had grown dramatically as runners over the summer and, based on their Saddleback Cup times, were ready to blow away their old 3-mile PRs. What we all may not have expected was to see the teamwork that would be on display! These boys know that nothing fires up their coaches more than seeing a group of athletes wearing the ET moving up together through the field. Andrew Flores led the way for this team early in the race, with Nathan Mavros and Connor Lee running together, Adit Shah and Ryan Cristea not far behind and moving, and then finally a huge collection of 9 Chargers (Sean Schuler, Jacob Remmes, Lorenzo Portabales, Jon-David Tok, Landon Burdg, Thomas Dinh, Nathan Avila, Ethan Liccardo and Gio Longo)! Once again, the summer miles showed as these athletes moved up in the final 2 miles to finish 9th as a team (28 total). The group was led by a gritty race from Andrew (40th place, 17:29 finish time, 0:14 PR), followed by Nathan (62nd, 17:56, 1:28 PR), Adit (74th, 18:02, 1:38 PR), Connor (101st, 18:32, 0:58 PR), Landon (112th, 18:39, 3:00! PR), Nathan (113th, 18:40, 1:13 PR) and Sean (114th, 18:40, 5:18!! PR) to finish out our top 7. Huge additional races came from Ethan, Ryan, Lorenzo, Jon-David, Jacob, Thomas, Jonah Alvarez, Angel De Leon Bahena and Gio to finish out this fine team. The average PR was a respectable 1:49 per athlete across all of these boys. We cannot wait to see those times continue to drop as the season progresses! RotM honors go to Nathan who is starting to show some poise in competition with a huge race, and Honorable Mention has to go to Sean with a 5:18 PR from last year and a 14:12 improvement from his Woodbridge race last year. Wow!
Boys Junior: Going into this race, coaches were hoping to see this group of Juniors run tactically, finding their positions early and moving up over the last 2 miles to put themselves in contention for a high placement. Major props need to be given to this team for finishing in 3rd place (14 total), and a mere 7 points from 1st! The Juniors were led by a smart race from Zander Barrera who finished 13th in 16:56 and who executed the race almost exactly the way his coaches envisioned. Behind him were maturely-run races from Luke Cymbor (26th, 17:18), Gavin Crocker (27th, 17:24), and Michael Stout (29th, 17:26). Michael had a very big performance, improving his PR by 1:26! Closing out our scoring was Alex Rolland (43rd, 17:47), and completing our top 7 was Hunter Renteria (67th, 18:18) and Prentice Dane (111th, 19:28). Coaches know this is just the start for this group of boys, and we are excited to see them continue to practice those tactics again as we turn our eyes to the League Cluster and Clovis Invitational! RotM goes to Zander for his execution of a top-15 finish, with honorable mention going to Luke.
Girls Frosh: The Girls Frosh team took 3rd place overall. This is an incredible up and coming collection of talent! Leading the way was Samantha Danaher, finishing 3rd out of 117 girls, in 19:45 (6:35/mile). Following so closely behind was Jayla Chan, finishing 5th overall in 19:54 (6:38/mile). Next to cross the finish line was Elle Craib in 22:11 (7:24/mile), followed closely by Lauren Banner in 22:19 (7:26/mile). Wrapping up our team was Norah Storm, crossing the finish line in 24:34, (8:11/mile).
Girls Sophomore: The sophomore girls have just begun to tap into their potential. We can see the fire in their eyes, they have the running bug. With runner’s improving their personal records, like Amanda with a 9 minute PR, Katelyn with 6 minutes and Kiana with 5 minutes, the sky is the limit! Finishing 1st for the sophomores was Riley Pratt with a time of 21:18 (7:06/mile), followed by Amanda Chi in 21:35 (7:12/mile), Kiana Mehrandand-Duran in 22:00.02 (7:20/mile) and Miranda Mora right by her side in 22:00.06. Running a minute behind Kiana and Miranda were Amelia Nguyen with 23:30 (7:50/mile), Isabel Ruiz with 23:35 (7:51/mile) and Morgan Raguse finishing with 23:56 (7:59/mile).
Girls JV / Varsity: The girls JV team was led by Avery Miller, finishing in 10th out of 221 competitors with a time of 19:55 (6:39/mile). Following closely behind were Charlotte Barkehanai with 20:26 (6:49/mile) and Christina Jain with 21:24 (7:08/mile). These talented young ladies are battling for varsity spots, the hard work pays off. These girls have momentum and the season is young, continue to watch for PR’s.
Running solo in the Girls Varsity race was Elizabeth Smorick. With hopes to PR, she shaved 5 seconds off her overall time, running 18:57 (6:19/mile) and crossing the line 31st out of 211 girls.
Girls Rated Varsity: Girls Rated Varsity took 5th overall. Leading the way was Gwen Williams, placing 3rd out of 223 runners with a time of 17:06. Not only was Gwen the fastest freshman of the day but her time is currently #1 Frosh in Calif and #2 Frosh in the nation. Gwen also went on to break ET’s freshman record. What a start! Following her was Lucy Varela, placing 38th with a time of 18:07 (6:02/mile). Running 3rd for our team was Leilani Vivaldo at 18:32 (6:14/mile), followed by Sarah Johnson finishing with a 18:41 (6:14/mile), closely behind her was Kathy Rivera in 18:47 and Dakota Danaher in 18:49, both with an average pace of 6:16. Finishing up the race was Evelyn Gonzalez finishing at 19:07 (6:22/mile).
Boys Rated Varsity: The Varsity boys came into this race knowing the field would be strong and the times would be fast. Leading the way for the team was Daniel Bulalacao, finishing under 15 for the first time in his career with a time of 14:54. After getting caught in the middle of the field early, Daniel showed patience and poise moving up the field to cross the line in a respectable 37th place. Following behind him was Diego Venegas in 15:33, Rogan Arriaga in 15:43, sophomores Josh Barron and Takumi Washiyama in 16:12 and 16:14, and closing out the team was Wyatt Fishburn in 17:01. Christian Throop, projected to be our 4th man in the race, started strong with a 4:57 first mile but had to pull out just before the finish. He showed absolute toughness, pushing his body as far as it could go. We know if he was 100% on the day he would have definitely finished near Diego and Rogan. The boys leave this race with invaluable experience running in a high-level field of competition, and the team will build on this as they look towards the Clovis Invitational after another few weeks of hard training. RotM goes to Josh for demonstrating patience early in the race and moving up the field over both mile 2 and mile 3! Honorable mention goes to Takumi for doing the same, moving up closely behind Josh in the final miles and finishing strong.