As the meets got bigger, Dana Hills’ Evan Noonan got better.
He started his sophomore season last year with a 19th-place finish at the Cool Breeze Invitational. There was a 33rd-place result at the Clovis Invitational.
Then came a second-place finish at the Orange County Championships and a first-place run at the Mt. SAC Invitational. Noonan in November finished first in the South Coast League championships and first in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 final.
Noonan is looking for a better start for his junior year, and is confident he has done the work to make it happen.
“I’m probably better at preseason training for this season,” said Noonan who was the Orange County boys cross country athlete of the year in 2022. “At this time last year I was going 9:50 for 2 miles and now I’ve been under 9:20 recently.”
Meets that Noonan is certain he will enter are the Woodbridge Invitational (Sept. 15-16 at Great Park), the Bob Firman Invitational (Sept. 22-23 in Idaho), the Clovis Invitational (Oct. 7), the Orange County Championships (Oct. 13-14 at Oak Canyon Park) before league finals and CIF-SS prelims and finals follow.
Noonan figures that to make his dreams come true he needs plenty of sleep.
“The most important thing I’m stressing,” he said, “and I know it sounds lazy, is making sure I sleep close to nine hours every night.”
JSERRA GIRLS SET FOR ANOTHER TITLE RUN
JSerra girls cross country coach Chase Frazier said “There is a very unique situation going on.”
He said that because JSerra’s girls team, which was the CIF Southern Section and CIF State Division IV champion last year, has the depth to be even better this season.
At a time trial last week at Dana Hills, six JSerra girls finished a 2-mile run in under 11 minutes. During last year’s cross country season, 19 girls in the nation finished a 2-mile race in under 11 minutes.
Among the Lions returnees are Brynn Garcia, a junior who was sixth in last season’s state…
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