The Oakdale Mustang Cross Country teams were off and running at the Sierra Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 12 as the boys and girls teams competed against over 40 teams and even battled the poor air quality. Conditions were smoky and dry, according to Coach Guy Fowler.

Oakdale’s sophomore boys team raced their way to a first place finish in the two mile run. Ben Miller finished first overall with a time of 10:47 to help pave the way. Adding to the team’s impressive accomplishment was Cade Middaugh who finished third just 12 seconds behind Miller. James Forkner; Russell Pabalan and Cesar Garcia all finished in the top ten for the boys.

“The sophomore boys team did an outstanding job and we are looking forward to some of those boys being moved up to the varsity level for the first Valley Oak League meet on Tuesday,” said Fowler.

Oakdale’s freshman boys had two top finishers in the two mile run. John Foreman and Cody Golding finished seventh and tenth overall. Justin Cresenti and Josh Gorman finished with impressive times in the varsity boys three mile run with Cresenti at 18:02 and Gorman 19:02.

The varsity girls claimed third place overall as a team in their three mile run. Kristin Aguilar (21:47); Kyannah Hernandez (22:57); Piper Collins (25:36); Sophie Jones (26:02) and Nadia Vazquez (26:23) made up the varsity girls team. Suzey Ramirez of the sophomore girls team ran an impressive two mile time of 14:03 to finish second overall. On the freshman girl’s side, Taylor Alorsio ran into the top ten with a ninth place finish (15:16).

“We performed very well today with a lot of kids improving and we are very pleased with the overall team concept they have embraced,” said Fowler.

The event was held at Modesto’s Legion Park, as was the first Valley Oak League Meet on Tuesday, Sept. 15. That event was held after The Leader’s press time.