While football has commanded its due to start the fall sports semester, South County teams and student-athletes in cross country, girls volleyball, girls field hockey, boys water polo and girls tennis are also making headlines.
The high school cross country season stepped off with the Vaquero Stampede on Aug. 19 at El Capitan High School and the Wolf Pack Invitational Aug. 25 at West Hills High School.
The Vaquero Stampede had a venue switch because of construction at Lindo Lake Park. Medals were awarded to the top 25 finishers in each division.
Runners competed across three divisions by freshman/sophomore and junior/senior classes.
Division winners included Eastlake sophomore Jaelyn Williams (Division 1 girls frosh/soph), Poway sophomore Cooper Castleberry (Division 1 boys frosh/soph), Poway senior Tessa Buswell (Division 1 girls frosh/soph), Westview senior Adrian Welton (Division I boys junior/senior), Santana freshman Harper Diaz (Division 1 girls frosh/soph), Southwest San Diego freshman Carlos Martinez (Division 1 boys frosh/soph), Sweetwater senior Melanie Arzola (Division 2 girls junior/senior), Sweetwater junior Matteo Garcia (Division 2 boys junior/senior), Christian freshman Elliana Patterson (Division 3 girls frosh/soph), Mission Vista freshman Keaton Hawkins (Division 3 boys frosh/soph), Holtville senior Lillian Strahm (Division 3 girls junior/senior) and Mission Vista junior Jacques Rogers (Division 3 boys junior/senior).
Williams, a returning state medalist (fourth place) in both cross country and track and field, finished more than a minute (66 seconds, to be exact) ahead of her nearest challenger, El Capitan sophomore Ashlan Forster, with a time of 10:36 on the two-mile course.
SuHi’s Arzola (13:43) finished 14 seconds ahead of Mt. Miguel junior Aneeta Matti (13:57) to capture the lead spot in the 44-deep girls Division 2 junior/senior race while SuHi’s Garcia (10:17) won by a four-second margin over Red Devil teammate Domenico Kelley (10:21) in the 64-deep boys Division 2 junior/senior race.
Other top South County place-finishers included Eastlake sophomore Solana Kitamura (fifth, girls Division 1 frosh/soph), Eastlake sophomores Brady Albright (fifth, boys Division 1 frosh/soph) and Kaden Williams (ninth, boys Division 1 frosh/soph), Eastlake senior Vanessa Vuong (eighth, girls Division 1 junior/senior), Eastlake senior Diego Navarrete Ocampo (10th, boys Division 1 junior/senior), Mar Vista sophomore Raeden Owen (fourth, girls Division 1 frosh/soph), Hilltop sophomores Melanie Cisneros (fifth, girls Division 1 frosh/soph) and Sophia Quirino (sixth, girls Division 1 frosh/soph), Southwest sophomore Nicolas Lopez (fourth, boys Division 2 frosh/soph), Mar Vista sophomore Helio Lozano (fifth, boys Division 2 frosh/soph), Hilltop sophomore George Hayton (sixth, boys Division 2 frosh/soph), Sweetwater sophomore Armando Nunez (seventh, boys Division 1 frosh/soph), Hilltop sophomore Brady Sutherland (10th, boys Division 2 frosh/soph), Hilltop senior Analee Martinez (fourth, girls Division 2 junior/senior), Hilltop juniors Carolina Villalpando (seventh, girls Division 2 junior/senior), Aadi Simmons (eighth, girls Division 2 junior/senior) and Natalia Ramirez (ninth, girls Division 2 junior/senior), Southwest junior Andrew Lopez (fourth, boys Division 2 junior/senior), Sweetwater junior Adrian Orozco (fifth, boys Division 2 junior/senior), Hilltop junior Leonardo Gonzalez Sandoval (ninth, boys Division 2 junior/senior), High Tech High Chula Vista sophomore Isabella Nazario (third, girls Division 3 frosh/soph), San Ysidro freshmen Miah Bermudez (fourth, girls Division 3 frosh/soph) and Christine Padilla (ninth, girls Division 3 frosh/soph), Bayfront Charter Roman Vidovich (eighth, boys Division 3 frosh/soph), San Ysidro sophomore Santiago Zamora (ninth, boys Division 3 frosh/soph), San Ysidro Valeria Jimenez (second, girls Division 3 junior/senior), Bayfront Charter senior Suzy Salinas (eighth, girls Division 3 junior/senior), San Ysidro senior Javier Lopez (second, boys Division 3 junior/senior), San Ysidro junior Luis Romero (fourth, boys Division 3 junior/senior), San Ysidro senior Isaac Martinez (seventh, boys Division 3 junior/senior) and HTH Chula Vista junior Ilyane Gamboa (eighth, boys Division 3 junior/senior).
Jimenez (12:52) finished 20 seconds arrears of Holtville’s Strahm (12:32) in the girls Division 3 junior/senior race.
San Ysidro’s Lopez (10:34) finished seven seconds behind Mission Vista’s Rogers (10:27) in the boys Division 3 junior/senior race.
Division team champions included El Capitan (Division 1 boys junior/senior), Santana (Division 2 girls frosh/soph), Christian (Division 3 girls junior/senior), Poway (Division 1 girls junior/senior and Division 1 girls frosh/soph), Sweetwater (Division 2 boys frosh/soph), Hilltop (Division 2 girls junio9r/senior), Mission Vista (Division 3 girls frosh/soph) and Mission Vista (Division 3 boys frosh/soph and Division 3 boys junior/senior).
Sweetwater (50 points), Hilltop (57 points) and Southwest (75 points) finished 1-2-3 in team scoring in the boys Division 2 frosh/spoph field with Mar Vista (121 points) place fifth among the six scoring teams.
Hilltop (26 points) out-dueled Valhalla (48 points) to win the girls Division 2 junior/senior title, followed by Sweetwater (76 points) in third place and Mar Vista (89 points) in fourth place.
Sweetwater captured first place in the boys Division 2 junior/senior race with 35 points ahead of runner-up Mt. Miguel’s 46 points. Southwest was third with 69 points while Hilltop was fourth with 107 points.
As a team, Eastlake (79 points) placed runner-up to Poway (34 points) in the Division 1 girls frosh/soph division.
Hilltop (41 points) finished runner-up to Santana (23 points) and ahead of third place Sweetwater (75 points) in the girls Division 2 frosh/soph race.
San Ysidro (39 points) fell just short of first place Mission Vista (27 points) in the boys Division 3 junior/senior race.
HTH Chula Vista placed fourth in the boys Division 3 field while Chula Vista Learning Community Charter was fifth.
Eastlake placed fifth in the boys Division 1 frosh/soph field and sixth in both the girls Division 1 junior/senior and boys Division 1 junior/senior races.
Back on track
The Wolf Pack Invitational featured races by grade level (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior) in two gender divisions. Girls races measured 1.5 miles while boys races were 2.1 miles (except for the freshman race, which was 1.5 miles).
Freshman division champions included Santana’s Harper Diaz (girls, 8:51) and Point Loma’s Jonah Turner (boys, 8:21).
Sophomore division champions included Santana’s Ashlan Forster (girls, 9:07) and El Capitan’s Noah Redman (boys, 10:35).
Junior division champions included Steele Canyon’s Dania Lopez (girls, 9:52) and Steele Canyon’s Micah Senn (boys, 10:13).
Senior division champions included El Capitan’s Jillian Rudolph (girls, 9:23) and Olympian’s Angel Cordero (boys, 10:07).
Division team champions included West Hills (junior girls), Steele Canyon( junior boys), Point Loma (freshman girls, freshman boys, sophomore girls, senior girls and senior boys) and Canyon Hills (sophomore boys).
San Diego Section Top 25 Rankings
MaxPreps through Sept. 4
Girls Volleyball
- Cathedral Catholic (7-2), 2, Westview (12-1), 3. Eastlake (7-1), 4. Bishop’s (9-2), 5. Otay Ranch (16-2), 6, Carlsbad (7-1), 7. Our Lady of Peace (7-0), 8. El Capitan (5-2), 9. San Marcos (13-4), 10. Poway (4-2), 11. Pacific Ridge (7-3), 12. San Dieguito Academy (9-4), 13. Rancho Buena Vista (4-1), 14. Francis Parker (4-2), 15. Helix (3-2), 16. Central Union (8-4), 17. LJCD (5-4), 18. Fallbrook (6-3), 19. Del Norte (6-4), 20. Imperial (9-2)
Girls Field Hockey
- Valley Center (2-0), 2. La Costa Canyon (4-0), 3. La Jolla Country Day (3-0), 4. University City (2-0), 5. Cathedral Catholic (3-0), 6. Del Norte (2-0), 7. Clairemont (2-0), 8. Bishop’s (2-1). 9. Sage Creek (4-0), 10. Scripps Ranch (2-0), 11. La Jolla (2-1), 12. San Dieguito Academy (1-1), 13. Mission Bay (1-1), 14. Westview (1-1), 15. Eastlake (2-1), 16. Fallbrook (1-2), 17. Otay Ranch (4-3), 18. Escondido (1-1), 19. Mission Vista (1-2), 20. Mira Mesa (1-1), 21. Mt. Carmel (1-1), 22. Mission Hills (1-2), 23. San Marcos (0-3), 24. Rancho Buena Vista (0-2), 25. Santana (1-1)
Boys Water Polo
- Poway (6-3), 2. Mt. Carmel (4-1), 3. Bishop’s (2-1), 4. Clairemont (3-0), 5. Santana (2-1), 6. Rancho Bernardo (5-2), 7. Helix (3-2), 8. Torrey Pines (6-4), 9. Point Loma (3-1), 10. Oceanside (2-1), 11. La Jolla Country Day (4-0), 12. San Dieguito Academy (2-1), 13. Patrick Henry (3-1), 14. Carlsbad (3-1), 15. Classical Academy (2-2), 16. Canyon Crest Academy (2-1), 17. Westview (4-3). 18. Eastlake (3-3), 19. La Costa Canyon (4-2), 20. Ramona (3-2), 21. El Camino (1-2), 22. Mar Vista (2-3), 23. Scripps Ranch (2-2), 24. San Marcos (2-3), 25. Grossmont (1-5)
Mustang Time Trials
Aug. 25 at Otay Ranch High School
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
