In a fast-paced week of action for Mustang sports teams, cross country had tremendous success, the varsity boys and girls sweeping teams in the first Valley Oakdale League meet of the season.
Meanwhile, the girls split their matches on the tennis court and the water polo boys were on the road for tournament play, with volleyball also taking on some opponents.
Here is a brief recap of the contests.
CROSS COUNTRY
Oakdale’s varsity girls cross country team put seven runners in the top 10 at the Valley Oak League Meet 1, staged at Mistlin Park in Ripon, hosted by Sierra High of Manteca on Wednesday, Sept. 22.
The girls, 6-0, are in first place in the VOL and turned in some solid times in the 5k.
Top finishers were; Haleigh Humble, first, 19:34; Kassidy Fmura, third, 22:33; Morgan Merzon, fourth, 22:33; Hannah Beth Norman, sixth, 22:57; Angelica Elizondo, eighth, 23:42; Ava Calandro, ninth, 23:39; Karina Verduzco, 10th, 24:14.
It was a similar result for the varsity boys, 6-0, first place in league.
Caleb Cavanaugh took first place overall in 17:22, followed by Dax Daley, third, 17:28; Mason Oliveira, fifth, 17:46; Jackson Oliveira, sixth, 17:49; Nathan Luca, seventh, 18:03.
“It was a good day for us. Both varsity teams went undefeated and set themselves up to make a run at the league championship,” coach Guy Fowler said of the first VOL meet. “Times were not our concern today, it was all about placing and we did that in the varsity races, with seven out of the top ten in the girls and five out of the top seven in the boys.”
Frosh/Soph Boys: In the 2-mile race, the young Mustangs went 4-2 and currently are in third place in the VOL. Top finishers were Abner Gonzalez, third, 12:53; Jose Buenrostro, ninth, 14:27.
GIRLS TENNIS
The Lady Mustangs took a road loss at Central Catholic on Sept. 21, winning one match and losing eight.
“Brooklyn Tolboe was the player that kept us from being shut out,” noted head coach Grant Miller. “She had a great week. She was the player that clinched the win versus Manteca on Thursday.”
Against Manteca, the girls won 6 to 3 as all the doubles teams were victorious as well as Rielly Jones and Lorin Odom in singles.
“It was Brooklyn though that won in split sets 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Her match lasted almost three hours,” Miller explained. “It was a big win, because it puts us in third place which would be an invitation to the playoffs if the season were over today.”
The win over Manteca closed out the first half of Valley Oak League action for the team.
“We can’t wait to get another shot at Central and Sierra,” Miller added. “We ended the first half 4-2, and we are in a great position to get that last spot in the postseason if not moving up to the number two spot with some even better wins.”
WATER POLO
Traveling to the Saints Invite over the weekend, the varsity boys finished sixth in the competition.
“We earned an invitation to this tournament when we qualified for NorCals in the 2019 season,” said head coach Savannah Martin. “We were the only team from outside the Bay Area.”
The Mustangs took losses to Palo Alto, 9-4, and Terra Linda, 11-5, while crafting a lopsided 14-2 win over Santa Teresa. Niko Klose had six goals in the win, Ethan Espinosa added three with two each from Isaiah Hamby and Carson Stueve, and one goal from Jebb Fox.
League play for both boys and girls water polo teams gets underway this week.
VOLLEYBALL
On Wednesday, Sept. 22, the varsity girls were shut down by the visiting Sierra Lady Timberwolves, taking a 3-0 loss in the contest.
The junior varsity team traveled for a weekend tournament, scores available saw the team winning a pair, taking a 2-0 win over Bear River and also topping Kennedy of Fremont by a 2-0 final.
