The high school cross country season officially kicked off on Saturday, with San Marcos, Dos Pueblos and Carpinteria competing in the Scary Dairy Invitational and Santa Barbara High taking on the Central Coast Challenge.
While the Dons went up to Santa Maria High, the Royals, Chargers and Warriors ran at Cal State Channel Islands.
San Marcos
The Royals’ boys team took first place in the meet behind a first-place individual finish for August Singer, who crossed the finish line in 15:32.
“August ran a really smart race, pacing behind some very talented runners up front,” San Marcos head coach Marilyn Hantgin said. “He made a move towards the end of the race to take the lead and never looked back.”
Singer was joined by teammates Walker Gregorio (6th, 16:18), Nate Daughters (7th, 16:21), Audric Halberg (19th, 16:45) and Drew Vogel (39th, 17:21).
“This is such a great way to start the season. I’m super excited for what is to come,” Hantgin said.
On the girls side, Autumn Richardson and Elsie Tuttle led the charge with fifth and sixth place individual finishes, respectively. Richardson ended with a time of 19:22, and Tuttle was right there with her at 19:23.
The duo was followed by San Marcos’ Jane Demmin (16th, 20:27), Jesse Minne (39th, 21:37) and Liz Jacobsen (62nd, 23:29).
“[Richardson and Tuttle] worked together throughout the race,” Hantgin said. “These girls have been working extremely hard all summer and are looking to have another great season.”
Dos Pueblos
The Chargers’ girls team turned in a strong showing in Oxnard, securing a second-place finish behind only Highland. All five of Dos Pueblos’ scorers finished within 1:14 of each other
“Our girls had a good day,” Dos Pueblos head coach David Jackson said. “They ran well together; having our five scorers fairly close gives us something positive to build on. We also know it’s early, and a lot of teams weren’t racing at full strength, so we’re not reading too much into September results.”
Iyla Herrick was the top finisher for the Chargers with her time of 19:55.5, while the rest of the Dos Pueblos scorers were Selah Blackwell (20:35), Mitzi Myers (20:50.1), Gwen Shea (20:59.6) and Emilie Joulie-Mares (21:09.8)
Meanwhile, the Dos Pueblos boys team finished the day in seventh place overall thanks in part to a strong showing for Dylan Adam with a time of 16:44.4.
While Adam led the pack, Ricky Lopez Garza and Evan Voung followed with marks of 17:23.5 and 17:29.4, respectively.
“We’ve had teams that developed into championship contenders, but every group has to build its own identity,” Jackson said. “Right now, we’re just getting better with the goal of putting ourselves in a position to be competitive when the important races come later in the season.”
Carpinteria High
The Warriors also had a pair of racers compete in the varsity race at the Scary Dairy Invitational on Saturday.
Max Soto came in 12th place in the boys race with a time of 16:34, while Jaqueline Guadian’s time of 20:46 was good for 20th place among the girls.
Brody Pozzebon, Mitzy Arenas, Liam Killen, Penelope Rowe and Belen MacMurray competed in the lower-level races for Carpinteria.
The Warriors will compete in the Moorpark Invitational next Friday.
Santa Barbara High
The Dons went north to begin their season at the Central Coast Showdown in Santa Maria, and a pair of individuals came home with some hardware.
Santa Barbara High’s Kik Van Engelen won the boys race in 17:12, and Sydney Burgoyne claimed the top spot in the girls race with a time of 21:41, helping their teams earn second and fourth place overall, respectively.
“I’m really happy with how the whole squad performed today,” Santa Barbara High head coach Olivia Perdices said. “It was a hot, hilly, dusty 5K course and they all showed up and executed their race plans exactly how we asked them to. You can’t ask a kid for anything more than that.
“For Sydney and Kik, winning a cross country race is a special feeling and a great way to start the season.”
Burgoyne was followed by teammates Lena Schneider (11th), Meg Covington (19th), Aviary Bunnell (26th), Viktoria Franco (28th) and Samantha Morello (31st).
“I love the way these girls fight and are fully in it for each other. We had a couple of freshmen (Bunnell and Franco) really step up for us in their first high school race,” Perdices said.
In the other race, the Dons got scoring performances from Ethan Walp (11th), Lucca Lowry (16th), Oscar Green (18th), Noah Davis (22nd), Andrew Diaz (25th) and John Tapia (26th).
“These boys do such a great job supporting and feeding off each other every day, and it’s starting to show in their results. Today was fun and they’re anxious for more,” Perdices said.
Santa Barbara High will take on the Rosemead Invitational next Saturday.
