Santa Barbara High boys cross country finished in 12th place with 265 points in the Division 1 & 2 Team Sweepstakes while the girls side ended in 17th place in their race at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational.
Great Oak was the top finisher in the boys race while Martin Luther King High earned the win in the girls race.
For the boys, Andreas Dybdahl led the way after he crossed the finish line in fifth place with a time of 15:08, a season-best.
“Andreas put himself with the leaders right from the gun, not something he’s done much at this level of cross country,” Santa Barbara coach Olivia Perdices said.
Following Dybdahl was Nico Tassos (38th, 15:54), Bode Andrulaitis (54th, 16:04), Benjamin Diaz (80th, 16:26) and Sasha Tanasychuk (88th, 16:37). It was a course-best time for Diaz and Tanasychuk.
“Team-wise, the guys held their own with some of the best in California,” Perdices said. “We were the second Division 2 team on the day without our full lineup.”
The top finisher for the Dons girls was Madeleine Van Bebber, who finished in 21:24 for 42nd place.
The rest of the runners for Santa Barbara were Ailey Alexander (55th, 21:56), Belen Catalan Jaimes (76th, 22:26), Mackenna Show (91st, 23:13) and Sophia Guerrero (96th, 24:03).
“Those are big course-bests for Maddy, Ailey and Belen against some strong competition,” Perdices said. “Hopefully they carry that momentum into the next few weeks.”
The Dons will run in the County Championships at River Park on Wednesday.
Santa Ynez
Brooke Phelan dominated in her race at the Mt. SAC Invitational.
Throughout the first mile of the race, Phelan was tied with two other front runners. However, at the end of that mile, she fell down to third place.
Phelan then flipped a switch and took the lead back late in the race and finished in first place out of 106 total runners.