The Cardinals only competed in the JV boys’, varsity boys’ and varsity girls’ division races due to low participation numbers. Many runners were absent because they took the SAT exam on the same day.

The top varsity boys finisher was junior Alex Hillan, the top JV boys finisher was junior Eddy Zheng and the top varsity girls finisher was sophomore Susan Li. The varsity boys placed eighteenth out of twenty-four teams, the JV boys team placed fifth out of nineteen teams, and the varsity girls team placed sixteenth out of twenty-one teams. Star junior William Chen pulled out of his race due to a sprained ankle sustained at last Tuesday’s All-Comers meet in Golden Gate Park.

As in many of their out-of-city meets, the Cardinals felt out of their element running in warmer weather and a more difficult course. “The temperature was pretty hot and there were a lot of hills, which made the three-mile race pretty difficult,” junior Eddy Zheng said. “The hills just kept going up and up.”

Though the preseason meets are challenging, the Cardinals see them as a chance to test themselves before the AAA season begins on Oct. 19. “Considering how difficult our outside meets are in comparison to the AAA course, league meets become much easier to run,” senior co-captain Karen Chin said.

Come cheer on the Cardinals in their last preseason meet at 8 a.m. on Saturday in Hayward at Garin Park in the Mariner-Saucony Cross Country Invitational.