Santa Barbara High cross country participated in the Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday.
The boys team placed eighth in the Rob Brenner Championship Race with 297 team points. The race was won by Dana Hills with 124 points.
“A huge team effort from the boys out there today,” Santa Barbara coach Olivia Perdices said. “Our top five were all faster than last year’s state finals on the same course.
“It was really hot out there today and the guys handled it exactly how we asked them to, staying conservative early and moving up aggressively in the 2nd half.”
Andreas Dybdahl led the way for the Dons, finishing in 13th place as an individual with a time of 25:21.
Following Dybdahl were Cainan Birchim (59th, 15:59), Blaise Snow (61st, 16:01), Bode Andrulaitis (96th, 16:21), Nico Tassos (109th, 16:30), Benjamin Diaz (136th, 16:52) and Matthias Everest (138th, 16:53).
“We were 25th at the mile, 14th at the 2 mile and 8th at the finish,” Perdices said. “Ben breaking that tie with MLK hammers home how important our team depth and tight pack are going to be in the postseason.”
On the girls side, the Dons finished 33rd in the Large School race.
Santa Barbara was led by Madeleine Van Bebber’s 66th-place finish after a time of 21:23. Also scoring were Sophia Guerrero (163rd, 23:40), Jaia Beall (185th, 24:11), Itzel Rayos Jimenez (222nd, 25:51) and Sierra Gronquist (224th, 26:07).
“We were missing some of our usual Varsity runners today,” Perdices said. “Maddy continues to run well for us and it was a great opportunity for the rest of the lineup to get some big race experience.”
The Dons will next hit the course for the Mt. SAC Invitational on Oct. 21.
“The boys have another big test coming up in the Division 1&2 Sweepstakes race [at Mt. SAC],” Perdices said.
