Crescenta Valley runs well in NXN girls' open race

The Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta girls' cross country team made another trip to Oregon to compete in the open race Saturday at the fifth annual Nike Cross Nationals and enjoyed another successful showing at Portland Meadows, competing as the Flying Chinchillas Cross Country Club and finishing fourth.

Michelle Callister capped an impressive career with a 10th-place finish, covering the 5-kilometer layout in 19 minutes, 27.5 seconds.

Carlotta Pham (19:45.8) was 20th for the Flying Chinchillas, who finished with 97 points. For the second year in a row, a Kenyan contingent came to the Pacific Northwest and dominated, taking the top five spots -- with Elizabeth Mueni (18:27.3) and Nelly Chebet (18:27.3) crossing the finish line simultaneously -- to finish with a perfect score of 15.

Little Branch Cross Country Club, representing Temecula, tied Beach Cities -- Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach -- for second with 82 points, with Little Branch prevailing on the faster sixth runner.

Claudia Pham (20:03.2) finished 25th and Megan Doeding (20:13.4) was 28th for the Flying Chinchillas, who were adorned in black singlets and leopard print running shorts.

Anneke Kakebeen (21:04.1) rounded out the scoring quintet by taking 51st for Crescenta Valley, which also had Eliza Collison (61st, 21:31.7) and Kaitlan Reininger (65th, 21:38.3) compete.

Saugus senior Courtney Wilson, competing in her final high school race representing Santa Clarita Cross Country Club, finished 54th (21:14.7).