Three local high school athletes qualify at CCS
championships
At the start of every cross country season, making the cut for
the California Interscholastic Federation state finals is the goal
of every runner.
Three local high school athletes qualify at CCS championships
At the start of every cross country season, making the cut for the California Interscholastic Federation state finals is the goal of every runner.
Last Saturday at Toro Park in Salinas three South Valley runners realized that goal in front of a record 4,000 spectators in the Central Coast Section cross-country championships.
By finishing in 12th place or better, San Benito Haybalers’ Isidro Trujillo, 16:26, Live Oak Acorn’s Billy Wong, 16.29, and Anzar Hawks’ Remigio Mierles, 18:30, each qualified for the upcoming state finals.
The CIF state final will take place Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Trujillo and Wong placed seventh and ninth respectively in Division I, while Mierles, making his first appearance in CCS finished 12th in Division V.
The Haybalers’ senior runner helped his team to 163 points and a sixth-place CCS finish, while Wong and his teammates accumulated 192 points, good enough for ninth place. Gilroy’s Stephen Bennett, the only Mustang to qualify for CCS, finished in 66th place.
Mierles paced the Anzar Hawks to a fifth-place finish in Division V.
A strong kick down the stretch enabled Mierles to pull ahead of the 13th runner, Woodside Priory’s Kristof Horompoly, and closer to St Francis freshman Ryan Howard. Howard crossed the finish line two seconds before Mierles.
The record crowd at Toro Park was treated to several competitive races as the hills surrounding the park came alive with cheers.
From the pop of the starter’s pistol, the men’s Division I race was heavily contested. The men ran in a pack for a good portion of the 3.1-mile race, until Sierra’s Dominic Vogl began separating himself toward the end of the run.
Trujillo got off to a slow start and trailed teammate Jonathan Rivera halfway through the race.
Recently coming off a two-week bug, Trujillo’s legs eventually kicked in and he cruised past a pack of runners, including Rivera, at the top of the course’s third hill.
As the runners rounded the final bend on the course, Trujillo’s pace clearly picked up. Trujillo chased down Live Oak’s Wong before overtaking Milpitas’ Matt Grilli. Trujillo placed seventh, Wong ninth and Rivera 11th.
On the women’s side, the Mustangs’ Stephanie Radtke narrowly missed making the trip to Fresno after placing 16th. Radtke’s gutsy effort left her gasping for air at the end of the race, but her time of 21:03 fell short.
Radtke ran with the pack of leaders for the first three-quarters of the race but began to falter once the runners neared the last of Toro Park’s treacherous hills.
Once Radtke fell back, the women battling for the final spot available for the stat finals pulled ahead by a full minute.
The Mustangs women finished eighth with 198 points, while the Haybalers’ sixth-place finish was spearheaded by Leeann Morales’ 21:39.
Meet director Alan Green said the estimated 4,000 spectators, coaches and athletes in Toro Park was the largest number in CCS history.
