One of the largest one-day athletic events in Long Beach happened on Saturday, but the particiapants were so fast you might have missed it if you blinked.  At Heartwell Park, 539 middle school athletes lined up to take place in six races in the 5th Annual Middle School Cross Country Championships.

Hughes and Lindsey won the Division 1 and 2 titles, respectively, in a huge field with 23 of 26 Long Beach middle schools participating.  Hughes won the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls’ races, as well as the 7th grade boys’, while Rogers took the 6th and 8th grade boys’ in the Division 1 standings. 

In Division 2, Lindsey topped the Monroe Tigers and the Robinson Dolphins for the title.  Hughes and Lindsey have won their XC titles four of the last five years. 

Below you’ll find the top six individual times from each race—fastest of the day goes (for the second year in a row) to Miguel Bautista, whose 10:41 (on the two-mile course) was just a few seconds short of beating the course record he set as a 7th grader.

And click here to see the photo gallery with some of Jim Cayer’s great shots of the day!