Our runners and teams did really well on Saturday at the Del Oro Invitational held at Spring View Park. It wasn’t exactly circled as a PR day, nor is SV Park a PR course, but quite a few runners did hit personal bests, and more importantly our different squads showed a continued trajectory of improvement. And it was a nice opportunity to preview the course for SFL Finals in 3 weeks.
Varsity girls got things started with a team win behind a 2-3-4 finish by Grace Lathrop, Katie Kopec, and Brooke Giorgi. Jessica Becker and Natalie Eppler placed 9th and 14th, followed by Grace Pierce, Haley Bedrin, and Kirsten Ransford all in the top 30. Haley as well as Emily Peterson hit lifetime PR’s for 5K.
For our varsity guys, we were looking to “pack it up” at a 16:30 pace with a few of our top guys who could manage 5:20’s. Austin Vasquez and Ethan Dodge set the pace for Brenden Jacoby, Byron Chadwick, and Jason Finta, creating a pack of 5 that methodically moved up, holding even tempo. The result was a very impressive team spread of only 10.5 seconds, all in the mid-16’s, and all five placed in the top 10 to win the team competition. It was a profound example of the “maroon swarm” as none of our runners were in the top 20 at the beginning, holding true to the 5:20 pace; but as the race developed, many opposing runners experienced five maroon shirts surrounding them and progressing past them. Riley Carroll, Aidan Ransford, Tyler Hawkins, and Aidan Redding were all in the top 35, with Tyler hitting a lifetime 5K PR.
In the JV races, Olivia Sauer once again led her squad, finishing 5th. Katelynne Finta was right behind her in 7th. Bella Nijmeh, Emily Britt, Alicia Chiang, and Emma Totaro provided the depth to finish 4th as a team. The top 4 teams were all within 17 points of each other.
JV boys took 3rd. Jacob Harbert came in 2nd overall. Malachai Amore was 10th, Brandon Valdez 13th, Cade Schwab 14th, and Jared Regan 25th secured a team score within 6 points of the winning team. Brandon, Cade, Luca Ruscica, Dylan DeValk, and Bryan Eickmann all PR’d for the two-mile distance.
Ryan Hart finished 3rd to lead the sophomore boys to 5th place overall. James Bowen, Charlie Gioia, Connor Jacoby, Hunter Schwab and Calvin Parcher all finished in the top 70 out of nearly 200 runners. Calvin hit a PR!
After spotting Granite Bay with the first 4 spots, our freshman girls went 5-6-7-9-11 to place 2nd. Emma Martinez, Tyler Williams, Marianna Blanding, Sydney Woolley (hitting a PR!), and Jane Sherman have become a formidable young squad, all improving each time out. Let’s hope these ladies stick with the sport for awhile!
Hailey Kelly placed 17th, hit a PR, and led her soph teammates to a 3rd place finish. Grace Ryu and Skylar Jones also PR’d.
Whitney freshman boys were perhaps the most dominant squad of the day. The Wildcats had 4 of the top 5, 5 of the top 8, 6 of the top 12, 7 of the top 15 … you get the idea 🙂 The maroon swarm was fast and deep, as Teo Delgadillo and Cole Jamieson went 1-2, Fekadu Cantrell and Nick Herrmann (one of the best individual performers on the day–maybe the year!) went 4-5, then Brandon Olah, Callum Turner, and Jaden Rapp all lined up in close succession. Nick and Callum PR’d, as did Aidan Barkve and Dario Ruscica. Whitney won this race by more than 40 points.
