You better bring the popcorn and drinks to the next Channel League cross country meet because, if the Preview Meet at Dos Pueblos is any indication, the competition among runners from Santa Barbara, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos high schools is going to be fiercely contested and highly entertaining.
The first full league meet since 2019 didn’t keep team scoring, but it had plenty of highlights that will be talked about until the next one.
The final turn into the home stretch of the boys varsity race turned into roller derby. Seniors Jacob Snodgress and Ethan Dwelley of San Marcos and Santa Barbara sophomore Blaise Snow were bunched together as they headed into the turn. There was contact, and it propelled Snow to deliver a blazing kick to beat the two Royals in an impressive season-opening time of 15:38 over the three-mile, on-campus course.
Snodgress was second in 15:40, and Dwelley third in 15:42.
“On that last corner, I tried to sprint past Jacob Snodgress, but he pushed me out of the way,” Snow described of what happened in the turn. “But that just got me even more angry to win, so I just sprinted past him on the last straight.”
He said the time was a personal best by almost a minute.
Snodgress, the reigning Channel League champion in the 1600 and 800 on the track, said he was trying to break loose from Snow as they sped into the curve.
“I tried to push him out of the way while I was trying to come around the corner and not get cut off,” he said of the contact. “I think he knew he had me the whole time because he was going hard and I had barely anything.”
Snow said he was in fourth place for most of the race and made his move as the leaders approached the last hilly section of the course.
“That last hill I could feel them dying off,” he said of the three runners ahead of him.
Snow said he is excited about running in full cross country meets again after competing in only three dual meets in an abbreviated season during the spring.
“There’s more competition now. I think it’s going to be pretty fun,” he said.
Cross country will have full league championships, CIF Prelims and Finals and State Championships.
Junior Phoebe Wolfe Lyons, the league champion as a freshman, said she had fun competing in a full cross country meet again. After spending her summer doing ocean swims in Reef & Run and running in Nite Moves 5ks and the McConnell’s Ice Cream 5k, she came out strong for DP and led an impressive Chargers’ sweep of the first eight places in the 3-mile race.
“Our team goal is to go to state this year,” Wolfe Lyons said after winning in 19:12.
Sarah Dent finished second in 20:06, and Ellie Gleason was third in 20:17.
Wolfe Lyons said doing the summer events in Santa Barbara bring her joy.
“Mostly, those sorts of things are just to keep enjoying running, the fun part of it,” she said. “I love the Night Moves race. … I run for the ice cream afterwards. Those things are fun to do and see people cheer other people on, and eliminate some of that race pressure and still enjoy running.”
She enjoyed running in the pack with all the runners from the six league schools, although she broke away after the first 1,000 meters on the track.
“It was so much fun,” she said of the meet. “I know our team during COVID and everything has really worked on trying to run as a pack and squish our times together more.”
The runners were inspired by a nice crowd of parents, friends and fellow runners cheering them on.
“It’s just so fun to have people cheering, to have competitors in the race alongside of you. It really makes it the full cross country experience we all missed out on last year,” Wolfe Lyons said.
Dos Pueblos coaches Jen Brown and Nash Jimenez said they were happy with the first-meet results from their teams.
If score was kept, the DP varsity and JV girls would have tallied a perfect 15 points as they swept the top scoring positions. The JV boys would have scored 32 and the varsity boys 40.
“This was a strong start to our season, but we know it’s just the beginning, and we need to build from here,” Brown said. “We are looking forward to racing at Ojai this weekend, and at Woodbridge the weekend after.”
Jimenez said: “We had a great day today at Dos Pueblos High School. JV boys and JV girls ran well, and no surprises with our varsity girls sweep. DP varsity boys gave a good effort, but finished third to Santa Barbara and by one point to San Marcos. Another highlight is that DP varsity girls and boys had three freshman runners come in the top 8.”
Freshman Eamon Gordon was the fastest Charger with a time of 15:50.
The San Marcos boys entered the race ranked fifth in Division 3 of the CIF-SS/Prep Cal Track divisional rankings.
“Five of our seven runners were returning with race experience,” coach Lawrence Stehmeier said.
All five ran a new course best and four of the five ran lifetime PRs.
“If we compare their times to two years ago, today all six finishers were under 18 minutes and in 2019 only four were,” he said. “Today, three were under 17 minutes and two in the fifteens.”
Blaise Snow of Santa Barbara High out-kicks Jacob Snodgress of San Marcos to win an exciting varsity boys race at the Channel League Cross Country Preview Meet. pic.twitter.com/W3sZRygL0k
— NoozhawkSports (@NoozhawkSports) September 9, 2021
In the girls race, Stehmeier said his finishers were running in their first-ever cross country race.
“We had five run under 23 minutes, a great place to start,” he said. “To compare to the same race two years ago, we had only two that ran under 23 minutes. Not bad. A great future with the first four runners in ninth or 10th grade.”
The top San Marcos girls runner was freshman Baylie Bingham in 21:25, with sophomore Kiala Haas coming in next at 21:42.
Santa Barbara’s top girls finisher was sophomore Mackenna Snow in 21:23.
After Blaise Snow, senior Xan Tassos ran 16:04 for the Dons, who had five boys finish under 17 minutes.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.