The 2021 fall sports season resumed with big efforts by a number of Oakdale High School teams. Cross country, girls golf, girls tennis and volleyball all were in action this week.
CROSS COUNTRY - Saturday, Sept. 11 the varsity teams went to Willow Hills Reservoir in Folsom for the Josh Ruff Invitational. The event was hosted by Oak Ridge High School. Two dozen schools competed in the varsity girls five kilometer run. As a team Oakdale placed fifth overall. Senior Haleigh Humble placed 16th overall in the race at 20:15. Junior Kassidy Fmura was 26th at 21:01 and freshman Morgan Merzon came in 42nd at 22:19. There were 149 total racers on the course.
Oakdale varsity boys came in sixth place out 24 teams. Caleb Cavanaugh took eighth overall finishing at 16:52. Fellow junior Dax Daley placed ninth overall just a few steps behind at 16:55. Another standout junior, Nathan Luca, placed 48th overall out of 195 runners with a time of 18:30.
“Great day for Oakdale High School,” said head coach Guy Fowler. “Competing against Division I and Division II schools, (Oakdale is Division III), we ran well over the Section Championship course. The team is progressing very nicely and gearing up for the Valley Oak League meets. Caleb and Dax ran some outstanding times and Haleigh was only about 25 seconds off her best time on this course.”
This Saturday the teams will head to Angels Camp for the Frogtown Invitational.
VOLLEYBALL - On Wednesday, Sept. 8 the girls traveled to Manteca for their lone contest of the week. Oakdale varsity improved to 2-0 in Valley Oak League action as they defeated East Union in four sets. Oakdale edged out the Lancers 26-24 in set one but fell 22-25 in the second set. They regrouped for a 25-18 win in set three, then put away the home team 25-13 in the fourth set. On Monday, Sept. 13 the girls traveled to Stockton to face Weston Ranch following The Leader’s press time. Oakdale hosts Central Catholic on Wednesday, Sept. 15 with a 7 p.m. start time. For the junior varsity it was a 2-1 win over East Union. Oakdale dropped the first set 21-25, but bounced back for a 25-22, 15-6 win. Freshmen won in two sets, 25-14, 25-19.
GIRLS TENNIS - The 2021 season began with a pair of victories for Oakdale. Oakdale blanked East Union 9-0 on Tuesday, Sept. 7 and followed up with an 8-1 win over Kimball on Thursday, Sept. 9. Coach Grant Miller said this year’s team is strong both in singles and in doubles. He is impressed with Payton Avila, Kennedy Jones and Reilly Jones in singles and for his doubles he likes what he sees out of the team of Emma Lowe and Riley Coviello-Miller. Tuesday, Sept. 14 the girls hosted Weston Ranch following The Leader’s press time. Thursday, Sept. 16 the girls travel to play Sierra at 3:30 p.m.
GIRLS GOLF - On Tuesday, Sept. 7 the girls traveled to play at Swenson Park Golf Course where the team took first place out of seven squads. As a team Oakdale carded a 423, second place went to Kimball at 537. Tori Blanc placed first overall (79), second place Kaylie Parola (80), fourth place Scarlett Duque (84), seventh place Hannah Herschbach (87), ninth place Janelle Velazquez (93) and in 12th place was Meghan McCluney (99). Thursday afternoon Oakdale is scheduled to host East Union for a VOL showdown.
WATER POLO - This week the boys and girls teams hit the pool for home matches against Lodi. On Thursday, Sept. 16 the girls play at 4 p.m. and the boys are scheduled for 5 p.m. Valley Oak League action does not begin until Tuesday, Sept. 28 when Oakdale hosts Kimball.
