Convent Sophomore Is California’s Second-Fastest D-5 Runner

With a burst of speed at the finish line, sophomore Sienna Faidi etched her name in the Convent & Stuart Hall record books with a second-place finish at the CIF State Cross Country Championships on November 26 in Fresno, CA, the best-ever individual result for any Cub or Knight at the state meet.

With savvy, strategic racing, Sienna was in seventh place after the first mile. From there, she steadily moved up into third, entering the home stretch with a shot at second. Thanks to a strong closing kick, Sienna edged out her section rival and finished the 5K race as the Division 5 runner-up. One week earlier at the North Coast Section Championships, she set a new Convent record with a 3-mile time of 17:59. 

Stuart Hall junior Malcolm Oakes crossed the line in 14th place at the state meet with a time of 15:50.6, which broke his own school 5K record by 0.8 of a second. At the NCS Championships, Malcolm managed a second-place finish in a remarkable time of 15:09, which is the fifth-fastest time ever run by a Division 5 boy at the NCS finals.

By virtue of finishing second and fourth, respectively, in the team events at the NCS Championships, both Convent & Stuart Hall cross country teams qualified to compete in the state finals. It was only the third time since 2005 that both teams accomplished that feat in the same year.

In their words:

• Watch Sienna’s interview with MileSplit following her CIF State race.
• Watch Malcolm’s interview with MileSplit following his victory at the Mt. SAC Invitational.

Photo credit: Steve Abernethy