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Girls cross-country splits first two league meets

Fallbrook High School’s girls cross-country team lost its league opener at Guajome Park September 26 against Vista by a 20-40 score but earned a 20-43 win over Oceanside October 6 on the Fallbrook course.

“I really see this team as continuing to improve,” said Fallbrook coach Troy Hamlin. “It’s been a great season and it’s just been fun to be around this group.”

The Vista meet was the first dual meet of the year for Fallbrook. “We didn’t go in with the expectation that we would beat them,” said Fallbrook coach Troy Hamlin. “We ran, I thought, a very respectable and very good race as a team.”

Not only is Guajome Park the site of Vista High School’s home matches, but the 2.48-mile course will also be the location of the Avocado League championship meet November 11. Part of Hamlin’s objective was to prepare his girls for the course in the more important race, and part of his hope was to prevent the Warriors from being swept by Vista.

“Our goal there was to break them up and not let them go 1-2-3 on us and have a 15-50 win, which we did, so I was very proud of them,” Hamlin said.

The positions of top five runners from each team are used to determine cross-country team scores. A team’s sixth runner is only scored to break a tie, but that sixth runner can also move an opposing team’s runner back another position as can a seventh runner. Thus a 15-50 score is the best — or worst — a cross-country team can have.

The Warriors were led by Noelle Garcia, whose time of 15:37 placed her second behind the winning Vista runner. “We backed her up with a solid group behind that,” Hamlin said.

Against Oceanside the Warriors claimed seven of the top eight spots. Oceanside’s Jessica Sandoval won the race, but Fallbrook claimed the next seven positions. “That’s what cross-country team racing’s all about really,” Hamlin said.

Sandoval’s time of 17:21 on the 2.67-mile Fallbrook course was followed by Amy Hansen and Garcia, both of whom posted times of 17:29. Briana Lopez finished at 17:33, Leslie Grantham came in at 17:52, and Alex Nygren had a time of 18:01. “A very nice pack there,” Hamlin said.

“They did a very nice job of keeping the pack together and running a very strong team race,” Hamlin said. “It’s nice to have a real good group that can all run about the same.”

Cassie Mulkey placed seventh at 18:39 and Carrie Jercinovich was eighth with a time of 19:00.

The race was the first at the Fallbrook course in 2006. “I was really impressed by the fact that most of the kids who ran ran faster than they did last year,” Hamlin said.

Hansen, Garcia, Grantham, and Nygren all set personal records for the Fallbrook course, as did junior varsity runners Taty Liepelt, Jade Lawrence, Caitlin Proboese, and Madison Donaghue. Liepelt cut 2:51 off her previous course personal record while Donaghue and James also shaved more than a minute off their previous best times. Freshman Kayla James’ first meet on the Fallbrook course produced a time of 19:52.

“It was a pretty good impressive day for us,” Hamlin said.

 

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