Pomona, CA — Senior cross country standout Lila Glidewell opened her season in style at the Cool Breeze Invitational on Saturday night, grinding through 80-degree heat at the 8:00 p.m. start to place 5th overall out of 266 runners in the Varsity Small School division. Against a massive field across all divisions, Glidewell finished 86th of 1,337 female competitors—an impressive marker for her first race of the year.

Glidewell is coming off a historic 2024 campaign in which she helped guide her Girls Cross Country Team to the CIF State Championships in Fresno for the second straight year and helped deliver Pacifica Christian’s first-ever Girls Team Cross Country league title. She also earned Daily Pilot First Team honors and helped the Girls Cross Country team rise to No. 5 in the CIF-SS Division 6 polls—the highest ranking in school history. A First Team All-League selection last season, she continues to reset standards for the program while drawing interest from multiple NAIA and NCAA Division II schools.

“Lila just keeps showing up, doing the hard things, and lifting everyone around her. Her consistency and toughness set the tone for our team,” said the Pacifica Christian Coaching staff.

By the Numbers (Girls)

• 5th/266 — Varsity Small School finish at Cool Breeze

• 86th/1,337 — Overall finish among all female runners

• 2× CIF State qualifier — Back-to-back trips to Fresno

• Daily Pilot First Team — 2024

• #5 in CIF-SS D6 (2024) — Program-best team ranking

• 1st Team All-League — 2024

• Program milestone — Key role in first girls league title in school history

Boys Cross Country Opens Strong at Cool Breeze

The Triton boys also impressed in their season opener at Cool Breeze, led by sophomore Joseph Gudino and junior Wendell Stratton, who clocked a 10-second PR in his first race of the year. The breakout performance of the night came from freshman Owen Harold, who turned in a 17:50 in his first-ever high school cross country race.

Head coach Neil Massaro—the 2024 San Joaquin League Coach of the Year and Daily Pilot Coach of the Year—praised the group’s depth:

“This is a great performance for the boys to start the season. Our 4th and 5th men were right in the 18s. We’ve never had a season start with such impressive times.”

• Top-5 scoring pack finished in the top half of a nearly 400-athlete race field

• Early PRs and a strong freshman debut highlight the Tritons’ depth and upside

What’s Next

Both teams head to their first San Joaquin League cluster on Tuesday, September 9, hosted by Avalon High School on Catalina Island. Glidewell and the Tritons look to build on their momentum toward another league crown and a third straight trip to the CIF State Championships.