The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum hosted the second LA28 NIKE Victory Relay on Sunday, August 17. To commemorete Joan Benoit Samuelson's 1984 historic, first womens Olympic Games marathon, Gold medal victory in 2:24:52 and promote the 2028 Olympic games in L.A., a select number of 8-member relay teams, passed a baton after completing a 1.3 mile loop around the coliseum. CPHS Girls Varsity team participated in the event in 2024. For 2025, the event expanded to boys teams (Only 12 HS teams invited in all of L.A.).
All teams had to complete as many laps (1.3 mile loops) as possible in Samuelson's time of 2:24:52. CP's fastest laps were run by Senior Sarai Rosas for the girls (8:28) and Sophomore ,Alexander Ocana for the boys (7:29
All for fun, the athletes were treated to pre-run snacks, warm up equipment, water station, live DJ, A visit from Joan herself, Post-run sandwiches and merch ($180 pair of NIKEs, NIKE backpack, NIKE running apparel [shown in pic], NIKE sports bra for the girls, Victory Relay tee).
The 2025 Boys (6th place) and Girls Cross Country (7th place) teams ran well, kicking off the season with energy and style.
NOTE: Out of 61 teams competing at the Victory Relay, mathematically, only 3 high school boys teams would have beat Joan Benoit-Samuelson! And they used 8 runners only running 2 (2.6 miles) or 3 loops (3.9 miles) each, compared to Joan running the entire 26.2 miles !!!