The Eastlake High School girls cross country team has been close to turning in a truly breakthrough season in recent years — the Lady Titans finished fourth at the 2019 San Diego Section Division I finals and sixth in the division the previous season.
The top two teams in the Division I race advance to the state championship meet.
This year’s team could very well make it to the next level.
“We have been close to going to state,” EHS coach David Koopman said. “We thought we had the team to do it last year but COVID hit.”
Amanda Challburg finished seventh at the 2019 CIF finals as a freshman while Savannah Kipp was 17th in the 131-deep field. Challburg did qualify for the state meet as an individual, finishing 90th in the field of 184 runners.
Perennial Mesa League champions, it seems, Eastlake once again appears to have the team to beat. Led by four seniors, the Lady Titans could finally have an edge on the competition countywide.
“The bar is set high, but we think we can meet and exceed our expectations,” Koopman said. “We are expecting big things.”
Eastlake opened the season with a rush by stampeding past Sweetwater in a non-league dual meet Aug. 27 at Eastlake Community Park. The Lady Titans placed the top 13 runners in the 2.55-mile race under very warm conditions.
Challburg, now a junior, finished in the lead position with a time of 16:35.09. Sophomore Vanessa Vuong finished next in 16:50.94. There wasn’t much of a gap after that.
Senior Melissa Mekitarian finished third in 17:09.43, followed by classmate Katherine Robinson in fourth place in 17:14.89. Senior Lake Merrifield placed fifth in 17:33.73 as the team’s fifth scorer.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers for Eastlake were junior Cameron Cruz (sixth, 17:34.10), freshman Alex Borba (seventh, 17:34.50), Kipp (eighth, 18:18.28), freshman Alex Sepulveda (ninth, 18:21.07) and senior Arianna Miessner (10th, 18:24.06).
The Lady Titans’ wagon train continued with freshman Sheridan Roche (11th, 20:06.98), junior Maya Ruiz-Peterson (12th, 21:52.49) and freshman Dalila Quedraogo (13th, 22:38.28).
Sophomore Melanie Arzola was Sweetwater’s top finisher in 14th place in 22:50.60.
Eastlake entered a total of 16 runners in the 25-deep field.
The Titans placed the top nine runners in the boys dual against the Red Devils, paced by senior Anthony Martinez, who went undefeated in three Metro-Mesa League dual meets during the 2021 spring season. Martinez timed 15:57.76 for three miles, winning by one minute, 44 seconds
Hilltop’s Byland races to head of the pack
Hilltop High School’s Jimmy Byland is still looking to test himself against the best around at whatever level.
Byland entered his junior year with a lot of potential coming off a trip to the California state championship meet in Fresno. But the 2020-21 season was limited to just three league dual meets because of the coronavirus pandemic.
There was no league championship meet. There was no San Diego Section championship meet. Sadly, there was no state championship meet.
Thus far this season, it’s looking like it’s time for others to test him as he assumes the role as leader of the pack.
The slightly-built Byland won his division at the Vaquero Stampede on Aug. 21 to step off the 2021 fall season. He followed that up with another first-place finish in his division at last Friday’s Wolf Pack Invitational.
He recorded a time of 9:53.0 on the 2.0-mile course at the Vaquero Stampede to top the 87-deep field. He won by 41 seconds over runner-up Valencio Coco, a senior from High Tech High Chula Vista.
Hilltop senior Miguel Tisnado tied Coco with a time of 10:34 to place third in the field as Hilltop won the boys junior-senior division with a team score of 46 points.
Byland timed 10:03.0 to win the boys senior division at last Friday’s Wolf Pack Invitational at West Hills High School. He finished eight seconds ahead of St. John Bosco senior Christopher Chavez.
Tisnado finished third in 10:30 to turn in another strong performance for Hilltop, the 2021 spring Metro-South Bay League champions.
This year’s Vaquero Stampede took place at El Capitan High School because of construction at Lindo Lake park.
Hilltop finished 11 points ahead of runner-up Mission Vista (57 points) while Valhalla finished third with 88 points. Bonita Vista put on a good showing in the Division II junior/senior division with a fourth-place finish with 101 points. HTH Chula Vista finished fifth with 113 points, followed by Southwest El Centro in sixth with 146 points and San Ysidro in seventh with 165 points.
Bonita Vista senior Enrique Aranda was fifth among individuals in the division with a time of 10:45. HTH-CV junior Aidan Stirk finished sixth in 10:47 to clog the finish line with five of the top six place-winners from South County schools.
For good measure, Bayfront Charter senior Jeffrey Salinas finished 12th in 11:18.
Hilltop had four runners place among the top 20 placers. Senior Christopher Bassig was 18th in 11:35 while junior Malachi Taylor was 19th in 11:38.
Bonita Vista senior Alexis Garcia-Guapo finished 21st with an 11:38 time while San Ysidro junior Brandon Guerrero finished 22nd in 11:44. Junior Luis Mejia (25th, 11:56) was Hilltop’s fifth scorer in the race.
Bonita Vista’s third scorer, junior Alan Magana, finished 26th in 11:59.
Hilltop’s Sebastian Vieyra-Gomez finished in 12th place in the senior boys race at the Wolf Pack Invitational with a time of 11:09. Along with Byland and Tisnado, the Lancer trio constituted the top place-winners from South County in the division.
“Team goals are to win the Mesa League championship, go to CIF and qualify for state either as a team or individually,” Hilltop coach Chris Gentry said. “The biggest goal for me is to get Jimmy, Miguel and others to get athletic scholarships for college.”
Baron pride
Bonita Vista captured the top team finish in the boys Division 2 frosh/soph division at the Vaquero Stampede with a score of 37 points to run away from second place Mission Hills (56 points).
The Barons placed their five scorers among the top 15 individuals in the 2.0-mile race, with two runners in the top five, three runners in the top nine and four runners in the top 12.
Freshman Dylan Funk was Bonita Vista’s top finisher in third place in 11:47, followed by classmate Hayden McMakin in fifth place in 12:02 and sophomore Jose Godinez in ninth place in 12:15. Freshman Joshua Hoffman finished 12th in 12:31 while sophomore Anthony Wise finished 15th in 12:45.
The Barons posted a five-man spread of 58 seconds.
Hilltop finished fifth in the division with 155 points. Sophomore Aldo Martinez was the Lancers’ top scorer in 23rd place in 13:03.
Ladies first
Bonita Vista also captured first place in the girls Division 2 junior/senior division led by top finisher Lauren Salt. The BV senior timed 12:32 on the 2.0-mile course to lead the 67-deep field.
Bonita Vista’s five scorers also included senior Diandra Jara (seventh, 13:02), senior Savanna Sierra (ninth, 13:21), junior Rei Fulinara (12th, 13:33) and senior Bellah Marquez-Silva (14th, 13:35).
Two other South County runners placed among the top 20 finishers in the race: San Ysidro senior Daphne Ledesma (13th, 13:34) and Hilltop junior Tamara Cornejo (19th, 14:14).
Bonita Vista recorded 31 points to easily finish ahead of runner-up Imperial with 63 points. Hilltop finished sixth in the division.
Mustang harriers gallop to strong finishes at Bronco Round-up
Otay Ranch’s varsity team stepped off the 2021 fall cross country season by competing in Saturday’s Bronco Round-up at Kit Carson Park in Escondido.
“We did exceptionally well,” Mustang coach Julian Valdez said. “The boys finished second overall in a loaded field, losing to Mt. Carmel by 14 points. We had a 13.5-second spread first through fifth. The boys currently are No. 3 in the latest coaches poll of top 10 teams.
“We are very realistic that nothing really matters in August and that championships are won in November. They are not taking anything for granted and really are hungry to compete for one another and not let each other down.”
Top performers on the boys varsity team currently are seniors Aydan Wohlford, Ruben Baza, Diego Vizcarra, Daniel Kim, Austin Parise and David Soriano. Top juniors include Jacob Juden, Jake Shorey and Rodolfo Baza. Zach Shorey is the top sophomore.
Wohlford (10:14.5) finished 13th in the 95-deep Division I field at the Bronco Round-up while Juden (19th, 10:22.3) and Baza (20th, 10:22.8) followed with top 20 finishes.
The Lady Mustangs also did extremely well by finishing 10th in their division. “We are excited to see what some newcomers are able to do at the Canyon Crest Academy Fleet Feet Invitational this weekend, including Freshmen Aviva Devore, who has been a welcome addition to our program,” Valdez said. “These girls are learning to run for one another, and when they string things together, they will be dangerous.”
Top performers include seniors Leila Fuerte, Elicia Arredondo and Lauren Medina. Salma Franke is the top junior while top sophomores include Ali Parise, Vivian Medina and Paulina Santana. Devore is the top freshman.
Fuerte finished 24th (out of 77 runners) in the 2.0-mile race in 12:45.3 while Franke was 30th in 13:02.2 and Arredondo 31st in 13:04.1
