The first Valley Oak League Meet and the Tiger Invitational P in Stockton made for a busy schedule for the Mustang cross country squads this past week.
At the VOL #1 on Wednesday, Sept.18 at Mistlin Park in Ripon, sophomore Haleigh Humble paced the varsity girls with a first place overall finish, running the 5k course in 18:47. Sophomore Hannah Beth Norman was second, 19:59 and Kassidy Fmura was sixth, 21:30.
The girls ran to a 5-1 mark at the VOL, and sit in second place in the standings.
The varsity boys also went 5-1, second in league, and it was sophomore Simon Appel turning in the best time for the Mustangs, second overall in 16:30. He was followed by freshman Caleb Cavanaugh, eighth, 17:15 and junior Dominic Robles, 10th in 17:44.
Senior Mariyn Waterman paced the JV girls effort, leading an Oakdale sweep and taking first in 24:28. Lauren Schickert, a junior, was second in 24:36 and senior Haleigh Flores was third, 25:03.
Leading the JV boys was junior Cesar Florez, fifth, 19:44 with senior Nick Carter seventh, 20:06 and junior Fabian Gonzalez 15th in 21:14.
The frosh-soph girls ran two miles, sophomore Victoria Becerra was sixth in 16:49, followed by sophomore Bella Weaver, ninth in 20:36 and sophomore Alexandra Becerra, 10th in 20:49.
Also running two miles were the frosh-soph boys. Their effort was paced by sophomore Damien Linn, taking a fourth place overall finish in 12:37. Caleb Polling, a sophomore, finished ninth in 13:00 and rounding out the top three was sophomore Cody Morrill, 10th overall with a time of 13:20.
“The team did fantastic overall, we came out and competed and all their hard work is paying off,” said coach Guy Fowler. “Simon Appel ran one of the fastest times in school history and raced really well. Haleigh Humble and Hannah Beth Norman had great races for the varsity girls.”
At the UOP Tiger Invitational, hosted at Elkhorn Golf Course in Stockton on Saturday, Sept. 21 the varsity girls took second place overall in the race, a 5k. Humble and Norman were both in the top 10, Humble fourth in 19:05 and Norman seventh in 20:11.
The varsity boys took fifth place and Appel was their first runner across the line, 16th overall in 16:49.
Top finisher for the JV girls in the two-mile event was Lauren Schickert, 12th in 15:06 while Jeremiah Renfrow was 15th in 12:15 to lead the JV boys.
Pacing the frosh/soph boys was Damien Linn, 24th overall in 1:12.
“We had a lot of personal bests (Saturday) and our runners really came out and competed,” noted Fowler. “We have had three races in the last eight days which has given them the experience we have needed. Now it’s time to rest up a bit and continue our training for what could be a very special season.”
Next up is the Clovis West Golden Eagle Invitational in Fresno on Sept. 27.
