Oakdale’s cross country teams made a statement at the 2016 Sierra Invitational over the weekend. Both the boys and girls varsity cross country teams finished in second place at Modesto’s Legion Park on Saturday.

On the five kilometer course, Oakdale’s varsity girls team that consisted of Kristin Aguilar, Kendra Branch, Kayden Legan, Jazmin Martinez, Alisa Martinho and Ana Laura Navorro took second place among small school divisions. Their top finishers included freshman Legan, who finished 11th (21:06); senior Aguilar in 24th (22:15) and freshman Martinez came in 32nd (22:31) for the girls.

Oakdale’s varsity boys finished with identical honors with the team also placing second amongst small school divisions. Joseph Aguilar, Antonio Pantoja, Justin Crescenti, James Forkner, Cesar Garcia, Cameron Hyde, Brandon Martinez, Cade Middaugh and Russel Pabalan represented Oakdale in the race. Senior Crescenti finished 19th overall (17:38) and 10 seconds behind him was teammate Forkner, a junior (17:48) who finished 22nd on the day. Rounding out the afternoon for Oakdale was junior Garcia who finished 41st (18:30).

“A great day from all the runners. They have been working hard and it is starting to pay off,” Oakdale coach Guy Fowler said. “We are going to make some noise this year if we can stay healthy.”

In junior varsity girls action junior Suzey Ramirez finished first (14:40) on the shorter JV 2-mile course and teammate and fellow junior Ruby Houchens placed second, just six seconds behind (14:46).

Today, Wednesday, Sept. 14 the teams will head to Tracy for the 2016 Valley Oak League #1 Cluster Meet at Eagle Lakes. The meet is set to begin at 3:30 p.m.