ALL-COUNTY GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY TEAM 2024
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Holly Barker, Trabuco Hills, Senior
A great finish to the season has made Trabuco Hills senior Holly Barker the Orange County girls cross country athlete of the year for the third consecutive time.
The Mustangs won their first CIF Southern Section and CIF State girls team titles while being led by Barker’s outstanding performances in both meets.
The season got off to a rough start for Barker. She finished 31st in the season’s biggest early-season competition, the Woodbridge Invitational at Great Park. Barker would learn that she had an anemia issue and once that got figured out her times improved.
Trabuco Hills teammates Holly Barker, left, and Millie Bayles finished 1-2, respectively, in the Division 1 race to help the Mustangs win the team title at the CIF-SS Finals at Mt. SAC on Saturday, Nov. 23. (Photo by Steve Fryer, Orange County Register/SCNG)She was the CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion with a time of 16 minutes, 40.70 seconds on the 3-mile course at Mt. San Antonio College on Nov. 23. That was the fastest girls time in all five divisions. Barker beat Trabuco Hills teammate and second-place finisher Millie Bayles by five seconds.
She was the top finisher among Orange County girls in the CIF State Championships in Fresno on Nov. 30. Barker, who signed with Colorado, was second to Corona Santiago’s Rylee Blade in the state Division I race. Barker covered the 5,000-meter course at Woodward Park in a personal best of 16 minutes, 58.9 seconds for that distance.
This month Barker finished 14th in the Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon and the Trabuco Hills girls team finished seventh. She said running with her teammates in the elite Nike event was her season highlight.
“We wanted to get there last season but we just didn’t make it,” Barker said. “To see us get there this year was very satisfying.”
Barker finished third in the Orange County Championships with a time of 16:48.80 on Irvine Park’s 3-mile circuit. Three weeks later at Irvine Park she won the South Coast League championship with a time of 16:16.60.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Ken Chai, El Toro
El Toro’s Ken Chai is the Orange County girls cross country coach of the year for the 2024 season. The Chargers won CIF Southern Section and CIF State championships for the first time in girls cross country. (Photo by Steve Fryer, Orange County Register/SCNG)Ken Chai coached El Toro this season to the school’s first CIF Southern Section and CIF State cross country championships.
The Chargers won the CIF-SS Division 2 title and the CIF State Division II title.
This was the 13th season as El Toro’s girls cross country coach for Chai, 65, who has been chosen as the Orange County girls cross country coach of the year.
He credited the team’s success to the team’s runners, assistant coaches Carol Bark, Tim Bergstrom, Ryan Chai (his son), Antony Masci and Kristin White and team benefactor Adam Follman.
“All these kids want to do is go out and run. I just try to pull them back so they don’t get injured,” Chai said.
FIRST TEAM
Holly Barker, Trabuco Hills, Sr. (Orange County Runner of the Year)
Millie Bayles, Trabuco Hills, Jr.
Amber Dazey, Tesoro, Jr.
Anna Desormeau, Trabuco Hills, Jr.
Carol Dye, San Juan Hills, So.
Mackenzie Forrest, Tesoro, Jr.
Sophie Guilfoile, Trabuco Hills, Sr.
Keaton Robar, Newport Harbor, Sr.
Sophie Polay, JSerra., Sr.
Summer Wilson, Irvine, Jr.
SECOND TEAM
Chloe Elbaz, JSerra, Jr.
Reese Holley, JSerra, So.
Annie Ivarsson, Dana Hills, Sr.
Marley McCullough, Newport Harbor, Sr.
Hannah Nourse, Laguna Hills, So.
Lilly Schroeder, El Toro, Fr.
Kaia Streadbeck, JSerra, Fr.
Alahna Thomas, Santa Margarita, Jr.
Gweneth Williams, El Toro, So.
Isabella Wroblewski, Yorba Linda, So.
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High School Sports | All-County boys cross country: Dana Hills’ Evan Noonan is the O.C. runner of the year High School Sports | Orange County boys athlete of the week: Evan Noonan, Dana Hills High School Sports | Orange County girls athlete of the week: Holly Barker, Trabuco Hills High School Sports | Orange County cross country teams, runners have monumental day at CIF State meet High School Sports | Orange County girls athlete of the week: Holly Barker, Trabuco Hills Read More Details
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