Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara High, Laguna Blanca and competed in the championship races of the Gaucho Invitational at the UCSB Lagoon Course on Saturday.
It was the first meet of the year for each program.
Dos Pueblos
The Chargers saw their girls team finish in third place with the boys coming in seventh.
Leading the way for Dos Pueblos girls was Vienza Machuca, who ended with a time of 20:44.17, good for 16th place. Following Machuca were Sophie Saleh (21), Cate Bishop (22nd), Quinn Gleason (25th), Maddy Myers (27th) and Ila Walman-Randall (43rd).
Coach David Jackson was pleased to see his top five runners place in the top 25 overall.
On the boys side, Eamon Gordon was the fastest Chargers, placing 17th in 16:35.28. He was followed by Dominic Corral (39th), Oliver Saleh (40th), Andy Brennan (42nd), Owen Abbott (51st), Finn Wright (54th) and Ashton Smedley (55th).
“Dominic Corral and Oliver Saleh have really run strong together once again,” said Jackson. “Owen Abbott ran well for his first varsity race. Andy Brennan showed he is strong, and made his last mile count by bridging the gap up to Oliver and Dom to finish together.”
Santa Barbara
The Dons’ girls team placed fifth while the boys finished in sixth place.
For the girls, Madeleine Van Bebber led the pack for Santa Barbara High with a time of 21:46.82(29th place) Also finishing for the Dons were Mackenna Show (34th), Ailey Alexander (37th), Corinne Hulford (38th), Belen Catalan Jaimes (39th) and Tali McPeters (46th), in that order.
The Santa Barbara High boys squad was paced by 16th-place Blaise Snow’s 16:29.70 finish with Bode Andrulatis also finishing under 17 minutes (29th in 26:47). After Snow and Andrulaitis came Nicholas Tassos (35th), Cainan Birchim (37th), Matthias Everest (43rd), Oleksandr Tanasychuk (46th) and Benjamin Diaz (48th).
“It’s always nice to open the season close to home,” Dons coach Olivia Perdices said. “Our younger kids got some great race experience against strong fields and our older kids got a good early season gauge of where they are.
“Both teams did a nice job packing together and working off each other.”
Laguna Blanca
Sophomore Kira Jameson finished 31st (21:57.85) and Olivia Sofranko 42nd (23:02.050 in the Championship Division for the Owls.
Santa Ynez
The Pirates also made the trip down to UCSB, with Josue Salinas placing first out of 160 runners and Brooke Phelan dazzling and placing fifth out of 103 runners in the “B” races.
“It’s clear that Brooke’s leadership as team captain and her dedication paid off,” Santa Ynez coach Gary Semerdijan said.
Salinas, a junior, finished with a time of 17:11.54 to lead the way. Also putting together strong performances were Ricardo Carmona, Gael Torres, Ilan Tores, Gabriel Silva, Elian Rodrigues and Conner Satterblom.
“The boys’ team seems poised for a successful season with such a strong showing at the first meet,” Semerdijan said.
Finally, freshman Adam Letts ended the 1.43-mile run in 10:13.62, good for 68th out of 108.
“Adam’s dedication during practice clearly paid off, and it’s promising to see a newcomer to the team showing such determination and improvement,” Semerdijan said. “As Adam gains more experience and continues to work hard, he has the potential to make significant strides in his cross-country career.”
Overall
Ventura High won both the boys and girls championship races. The Cougars are No. 1-ranked in CIF-SS Division 2 for both genders.
The Ventura girls scored 19 points, followed by Canyon (51), Dos Pueblos (73), Bakersfield Christian (82) and Santa Barbara (121). Ventura’s boys completed the sweep with 59 points followed by Harvard Westlake (82), Canyon (87), Foothill Tech (94), De La Salle (118) Santa Barbara (145) and Dos Pueblos (172).
Sophomore Aelo Curtis of Ventura was the girls individual champion in 18:14, while Trey Caldwell of De La Salle was the boys winner in 15:06.