The high school cross-country season has stepped off with a great deal of success for East County runners.
Steele Canyon junior Josh Paradise posted a sixth-place individual finish in the boys’ varsity Blue Division race at last Friday’s 18th annual Mustang/East Hills Realty Invitational at Rohr Park in Chula Vista.
Paradise, a league champion in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter distances at last spring’s track and field finals, timed 16:35 in the 3.1-mile race to finish among the top one-sixth of the 98 finishers.
The high school cross-country season has stepped off with a great deal of success for East County runners.
Steele Canyon junior Josh Paradise posted a sixth-place individual finish in the boys’ varsity Blue Division race at last Friday’s 18th annual Mustang/East Hills Realty Invitational at Rohr Park in Chula Vista.
Paradise, a league champion in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter distances at last spring’s track and field finals, timed 16:35 in the 3.1-mile race to finish among the top one-sixth of the 98 finishers.
His elite place-finish positioned the Cougars for an eighth-place finish in the team standings—72 points behind third place Valhalla.
“We’d like to close our gap and work as a team,” said Paradise, who placed 12th at last year’s San Diego Section Division II cross-country finals as a sophomore. “We’d like to close the gap against our rivals by working more as a team.”
Following Paradise’s lead, freshman teammate Luis Pina was the next Cougar to cross the finish line in 24th place in 17:29. Other scorers for Steele Canyon included senior Saul Melesio (39th, 17:57), senior Cody Rhodes (5oth, 18:14) and junior Louis McComack (57th, 18:23).
Valhalla placed all its five scorers in the top third of the field, three of its runners among the top 20 finishers and two of its runners among the top 15 finishers.
The Norsemen’s top five runners included junior Trent Rule (12th, 16: 53), senior Trent Marlow (15th, 17:08), sophomore Alex Hernandez (20th, 17:16), senior Carter Zachow (26th, 17:36) and senior Joey Rearic (31th, 17:42).
Valhalla’s five-man spread totaled 49 seconds to Steele Canyon’s five-man gap of 1:48.
Westview captured the division title by placing its five scorers among the top eight finishers with an exceedingly tight 28-second spread.
Mt. Carmel, led by race winner Derek Morton (16:17), finished second with 88 points—16 points ahead of the third place Norsemen.
In the girls’ varsity Blue Division, Steele Canyon finished fourth—119 points ahead of 11th place Valhalla.
Steele Canyon’s top finishers in the 2.3-mile race included junior Sophia Alcaraz (15th, 14:22) freshmen Alissa Roesch (22nd, 14:41) and Shelby Wray (23rd, 14:42), and seniors Emily Nerat (39th, 15:09) and Anele Villanueva (47th, 15:19).
Freshman Maria Van Antwerp (29th, 14:50) was Valhalla’s top finisher.
Steele Canyon finished third in the boys’ junior varsity Blue Division team standings while Valhalla was fifth. Valhalla freshman Tristan Burton (12:28) finished second overall among individuals in the race.
This year’s Mustang Invitational featured nine separate races among the two classification divisions that included 1,379 finishers.
Team champions included St. Augustine (boys JV Silver), San Pasqual (boys JV Blue), Valley Center (girls varsity Silver), Westview (girls and boys varsity Blue) and San Diego (boys varsity Silver).
Individual race winners included St. Augustine sophomore Ryan Dent (boys JV Silver), San Pasqual freshman Alex Egan (boys JV Blue), La Jolla junior Lauren Roberts (girls varsity Silver), San Pasqual junior Angela Ortlieb (girls varsity Blue), Valley Center senior Bannon Greer (boys varsity Silver), Mt. Carmel senior Derek Morton (boys varsity Blue), La Jolla freshman Star Austin (girls JV Silver), Mt. Carmel freshman Laura Moran (girls JV Blue) and Pt. Loma freshman Rein Kingsbury (boys JV overflow).
Medals were awarded to the top 35 individuals in all varsity races and to the top 30 individuals in the JV races while the top three teams in both the varsity and JV divisions also received plaques.
The girls JV Blue Division race was the largest with 241 finishers, followed by the boys JV Silver Division race with 205 finishers
Santana finished third overall in the 2.15-mile Division 3 boys’ junior/senior race. Top scorers included senior Kenny Miller (21st, 13:11) and juniors Josh Dryden (28th, 13:53), Marlon Blue (30th, 14:11), Ryan St. John (32nd, 14:17) and Ben Bush (56th, 17:23).
Among Division 3 individuals, Foothills Christian junior Luke Grantham finished 12th in the division’s junior/senior race with a time of 12:47, followed by El Cajon Christian junior Spencer Crouder (13th, 12:50).
For complete race results, visit the website at www.sdtrackmag.com.
Vaquero Stampede
Event host El Capitan finished fourth in both the Division 2 frosh/soph and junior/senior boys’ races at the Vaquero Stampede held Aug. 31 at Lindo Lake.
Senior Jorge Gomez led the Vaqueros on the 2.15-mile course with a time of 11:13. Following his lead were teammates Reoh Darwell (14th, 11:33), Alex Bellavance (18th, 11:43), Ben Sellers (28th, 11:54) and Rick Roelofsz (29th, 12:02).
El Capitan’s tight five-man spread of 49 seconds placed the team just four points out of a third-place tie with Canyon Crest Academy.
Sophomore Tyler Ruff turned in the top time of 8:32 in the 1.65-mile Division 2 frosh/soph race while freshman teammate Chandler Huss placed sixth in the 82-deep field with a time of 9:03.
The Vaqueros’ remaining five scorers included Bryan Hunter (29th, 10:17), Diego Mares (35th, 10:33) and Garrett Hauber (80th, 13:50). El Capitan finished eight points behind third place Calexico in the team standings.
Junior Kayden Carpenter and sophomore Melissa Maize turned in the highest place-finishes among Vaquero individual runners on the warm day by finishing second in their respective races. Carpenter timed 10:15 in the 1.65-mile Division 2 girls’ junior/senior race while Maize timed 11:09.
Sophomore Alemu Talcott was the highest place-finisher among runners for Granite Hills by finishing second in the Division 1 boys’ frosh/soph race with a time of 8:23 on the 1.65-mile course. He finished just two seconds behind race winner Jake Thompson (8:21) of San Pasqual.
Among Division 1 girls’ junior/senior runners, Granite Hills junior Alexandra Hernandez placed fourth in the 65-deep race. The Eagles finished fifth in the team standings—just eight points out of third place.
Among Division 1 boys’ junior/senior runners, Granite Hills senior Kalen Meza finished ninth in 11:19. The Eagles finished fifth overall in the team standings.
Granite Hills, led by freshman Clara Scheidel (16th, 11:31), placed fourth in the team standings in the 1.65-mile Division 1 girls’ frosh/soph race.
El Capitan finished fifth in the Division 2 girls’ frosh/soph race—nine points behind fourth place Serra.
