Just this past Saturday, Hoover girls’ cross-country runner Emma Canal successfully made it through to the CIF Southern Section Finals. After an arduous and long race, Canal placed fourth in Division 3 prelims with a personal-best time of 19 minutes and 33.4 seconds, putting her through to Division finals. 

Canal, who just started running a few years ago, finished fourth in her heat out of 85 girls. The top six individuals qualify for the CIF finals from each of the four heats. She finished 22nd out of 362 runners in her division.

Canal, a sophomore, qualified for the CIF prelims after placing seventh in the Pacific League Finals on November 3rd with a time of 18:05. All her hard work and dedication was clearly shown. 

When asked about the course and whether or not she feels prepared to run it again next weekend, Canal responded, “I’ve run the course three times, so I definitely feel a lot more prepared.” 

The last time Hoover made it to prelims was in 2012 with the girls.

The last time Hoover made it to finals was in 2001 with, again, the girls. 

Two decades later later, Canal will race at finals on November 19th, running at Mt. San Antonio College, which is a mountainous course with a lot of uphill. 

When discussing this record and how long it’s been, Canal claimed that “It’s unbelievable” how far she has come and that she hopes to continue performing well and making Hoover proud.

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