Abdalla took first place in the freshman race at the Footlocker Western Region championships on Dec. 4 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. The race was 3.1 miles and consisted of the top runners from the 10 western states.

"Mohamed seized the lead immediately in the race and ran away from the field early on," said Willow Glen's cross country head coach, Victor Santamaria. "He was unchallenged the entire way. By winning this race, Mohamed is arguably the fastest freshman runner in the Western United States, and this race earns him a top national ranking for freshmen."

Sophomore Marcos Corona took part in the national championship qualifying seeded race and came in 69th overall.

"This was Corona's best race of his season," said Santamaria. "Corona chose to bypass running in the sophomore-only race in which he would have earned an All-Western U.S. sophomore position, because he wanted to gain the competitive experience in this top seeded field."

Corona's performance in this race puts him in the top 15 sophomores in the Western U.S.

Corona's teammate, Samson Galato, did decide to compete in the sophomore-only race and finished 19th. By placing in the top 24, he earned an All-Western Region medal.

"This was Samson's best race of the season," according to Santamaria.

Two Rams competed in the first of two junior races and both came out well.

Justin McArthur finished 22nd overall, with Ruben Camacho finishing only seconds later in 25th place.

McArthur earned an All-Western Region medal when he placed in the top 24. "Justin showed a lot of guts out there by going out with the top runners and hanging strong to earn a medal," said Santamaria. "Ruben just missed earning a medal by one place, but still ran one of his best races ever."

Robert Ramoz took part in the second of the junior-only races and came out in 27th overall. "Robert went out strong and hung tough throughout the race," said Santamaria.

"This was a great way to culminate a very successful season for the boys varsity team," added Santamaria. "They got the invaluable opportunity to see how they rank among the top runners in the Western U.S., and they fared extremely well.

"This is definitely encouraging for next year's season as six of the seven varsity members will be returning, and especially exciting to have the No. 1 freshman and one of the top sophomores in the west leading the Rams next year."