Hunter Clark ran a sizzling race to successfully defend his boys individual title and the Dos Pueblos girls earned a spot in the CIF Prelims with a strong performance Thursday at the Channel League cross country finals at Camino Real Park in Ventura.
Clark clocked 15:15 on the flat 3-mile course and qualified for the CIF Prelims next week in Riverside. The DP boys team missed out on the final team spot by one point to Buena, 78-79. Ventura took first place with 38 points and San Marcos was second with 40.
“We have a tough league, and we’ve been talking about having to beat Buena since our preseason team camp,” DP coach Josh Christensen commented. “We’ve been back and forth with them all season long, and they got the best of us today.”
Rice ran a 17:31, good for second best in the girls race. Teammate Natalie Hawkins’ time of 18:53 was a personal best and good for 11th place. Kailey Reardon’s 19:35 was good for 14th.
Dos Pueblos finished third with 71 points behind champion San Marcos (25) and Ventura (47), Buena (85) was fourth and Santa Barbara (140) fifth.
“I’m thrilled for our girls team,” said Christensen. “They return to the postseason after missing out last year. They’ve worked their tails off and deserve this opportunity. We have some star power and a lot of youth on this team that is only getting stronger. We should see some fast times on the flat Riverside course next week.”
Dos Pueblos Times
Boys
Hunter Clark, 15:15, 1st
Josh McGregor, 15:52, 10th
Joseph Pearlman, 16:35, 20th
Jack Randmaa, 16:59, 23rd
Nate Getachew, 17:17, 25th
Henry Urschel, 17:25, 26th
Loren Young, 18:04, 32nd
Girls
Christina Rice, 17:31, 2nd
Natalie Hawkins, 18:53, 11th
Kailey Reardon, 19:35, 14th
Ruby Gans, 20:36, 20th
Emmi Wyttenbach, 20:54, 24th
Joanna Zukin, 21:21, 26th
Molly Gans, 22:19, 30th