SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

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The Fallbrook High School cross country team will be running off its Thanksgiving dinner at the CIF State Championship meet this coming Saturday in Fresno. The Warriors extended their postseason schedule by winning the girls team title in last Friday's San Diego Section Division I championships at Morley Field. Alex Casarez also qualified as an individual entrant to compete in Fresno by finishing fifth in the boys Division I race.

The Division I girls state finals race will take place Saturday at 10:40 a.m. at Fresno's Woodward Park. The Division I boys state championship race is scheduled to start at 12:20 p.m.

The top two teams in each of the section's five enrollment divisions earned a berth to the Fresno meet, plus the top five individuals among the top 12 finishers not on either of the two qualifying teams.

Fallbrook's girls team found an easier way to avoid the pitfalls of the sometimes complicated qualifying process by simply winning its division.

Warrior coaches Gary Lutgendorf and Troy Hamlin were all smiles when accepting the Division I championship plaque at the award ceremonies, and heaped praise on all the girls who contributed to the championship season.

Fallbrook won the division by out-pointing runner-up Carlsbad High School 79 to 129 points. The Warriors were led on the 2.75-mile hill course by senior Katie Matlack, who finished third overall among the 139 individuals with a time of 16 minutes, 33 seconds. Matlack finished 30 seconds behind race winner Lindsay delaMontaigne of Rancho Bernardo and 25 seconds behind race runner-up Danielle Schuster of Torrey Pines. DelaMontaigne is a freshman; Schuster is a sophomore.

Fallbrook placed its five scorers among the top 28 finishers, including three among the top 14 finishers. Junior Melissa Ramos was 12^th overall in 17:07 as the Warriors' second scorer and freshman Michelle Denham was 14^th overall in 17:10 as the team's third scorer. The three top brook scorers all finished ahead of Carlsbad's second scorer, Colleen O'Connell, who was 20^th in 17:22. The Warriors, in fact, placed their top four scorers ahead of the Lancers' top three scorers. Fallbrook's five scorers all finished ahead of Carlsbad's fourth runner.

Junior Kelly Denham was fourth for the Warriors in 17:29 to place 22^nd overall in the field while senior Maija Rohde closed out scoring for Fallbrook with a 28^th individual finish in 17:35 as the team's fifth scorer.

Both Matlack and Rohde serve as co-captains of the Warriors team.

Also competing on the course for Fallbrook last Friday were junior Christina Eads, who finished 66^th overall in 18:37 as the team's sixth runner, and junior Nettie Holt, who finished 67^th overall in 18:37 as the team's seventh runner.

Teams may enter seven individuals in a race but only the top five place-finishers can score points, with the position of the sixth runner breaking any ties between teams.

Fallbrook's boys team finished 10^th in the Division I team standings, led by Casarez' finish in 16:22. Casarez was the third state individual qualifier behind Mira Mesa's Brandon Zelones, who finished second in the race with a 15:55 time behind winner Abadir Barre of Mt. Carmel (15:49), and Poway's Luke McGinnis, who placed fourth with a time of 16:20.

Mt. Carmel High School, with 69 points, finished with the low team score of the division to claim the team championship while San Diego High School nailed down the second automatic team qualifying spot for the state meet with 107 points. The Warriors' 288 team points placed them behind ninth-place San Marcos (209 points) and ahead of 11^th-place Granite Hills (292 points).

Rounding out the Warriors' five scorers were Ben Lupercio (54^th, 17:30); Alex Fontaine (70^th, 17:41); Joe Harlin (76^th, 17:48) and Tim Irwin (83^rd, 17:56). Fallbrook's sixth runner was Aaron Heber (115^th, 18:37) and Felipe Lopez finished as the Warriors' seventh runner (124^th, 19:10). A total of 150 runners finished the boys Division I race.

Division II team champions included Hoover (boys) and San Pasqual (girls). Division III team champions included Valley Center (boys) and University City (girls). Division IV team champions included La Jolla Country Day (boys and girls). Division V team champions included Calvin Christian (boys) and Julian (girls).

San Dieguito Academy senior Jenna Timinsky joined Fallbrook alumna Milena Glusac (1989-92) and San Pasqual graduate Terri Brown (1977-80) as the section's only four-time individual girls champions by winning the Division III race last Friday in 15:37 -- the fastest time on the day.

Torrey Pines also qualified for the girls Division I state finals as an at-large team. The Falcons finished third behind Fallbrook and Carlsbad with 135 team points.

For updated entry information and race results, please visit the state CIF office's official website at www.cifstate.org.

The Helix High School cross country team will be running off its Thanksgiving dinner at the CIF State Championship meet this coming Saturday in Fresno. The Helix girls team extended its postseason schedule by placing second to San Pasqual in last Friday's San Diego Section Division II championships at Morley Field. Two members of the Helix boys team -- Babey Wagnew and Taylor Williams -- both qualified as individual entries for the state meet.

The Helix girls team, which recorded its best finish during the seven-year tenure of coach Ray Mounts and is ranked 10^th in the state, was led by Stephanie Baird, who finished the 2.75-mile course fourth among individuals in 17:05. Joining Baird are teammates Olga Gorobets (12^th, 17:44); Westlie Johnson (13^th, 17:44); Leah Brucker (15^th, 17:48); Whitney Cleveland (35^th, 18:39); Michelle Jensen (56^th, 19:13) and Rachel Farrior (58^th, 19:16). The Grossmont South League champion Highlanders finished with 74 points to division champion San Pasqual's 21 points.

Mounts said he had an inkling of greater things to come after the team finished third at last year's division finals and lost just two girls from that starting seven. "We did a good job. The kids did a great job over the summer coming in prepared to get a great preseason start. As we worked through the season, we got better as a packing team. That's what helped us today," he said.

Wagnew (15:42) finished second in the boys Division II race to Mar Vista sophomore Troy Swier (15:38), who took the lead from the Helix runner after the two-mile mark. Williams finished fifth in the race in 16:14. The Grossmont South League champion Highlanders, with 135 points, finished third in the boys team standings behind state team qualifiers Hoover (first, 71 points) and Scripps Ranch (second, 114 points).

Also qualifying for Saturday's state finals are Granite Hills' Eladio Carrillo, who finished eighth in the boys Division I field in 16:35, and El Capitan's Benny Gandolfo, who was sixth in the boys Division II race in 16:20.