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Warrior girls fifth in Southern California Invite

Fallbrook High School’s girls cross-country team placed fifth among the Division I teams in the Southern California Invitational meet October 14 at Guajome Park.

“We went up against some really strong teams,” said Fallbrook coach Troy Hamlin. “I’m satisfied with the way we ran.”

The Southern California Invitational meet adds the times of a team’s seven runners to determine team positions. The races feature runners of specific team ranks competing against each other.

“It was really muddy out there, so it did affect the times,” Hamlin said.

Approximately half an inch of rain the night before the race made Guajome Park’s clay course a muddy one, and there was also rainfall during the event. In some spots the water was up to six inches deep.

Fallbrook was also hampered by the loss of Alex Nygren, Lauren Edwards, and Jade Lawrence to the Scholastic Aptitude Test they took that day. The loss of three runners moved Carrie Jercinovich to the varsity level, where she responded with a time of 16:44 on the 2.42-mile course to place third in the #7 race.

“This was her first opportunity to run at the varsity level, and she stepped up,” Hamlin said. “It was a huge breakthrough for her to run it that well.”

Since Jercinovich, a sophomore, did not run that course in 2005, her time was not officially a personal record. Leslie Grantham, a junior in her second year as a cross-country runner, ran a personal record on the course with a time of 16:23, which gave her sixth place in the #4 race. Grantham’s top 2005 time on the course was 17:18. “She ran a huge PR,” Hamlin said.

A personal record was also set by Madison Donaghue, whose time of 19:24 broke her 2005 best time of 19:42.

The top Fallbrook time at the Southern California Invitational was the 16:06 of junior Briana Lopez, who finished eighth among the 29 runners in the #3 race. Sophomore Noelle Garcia’s time of 16:21 put her 11th among the #1 runners. Senior Amy Hansen had a time of 16:30 to finish ninth in the #2 race.

“We’re looking at a 38-second pack, which in cross-country is huge,” Hamlin said. “They continue to run together as a group even though they were spread out in different races.”

Junior Cassie Mulkey, Fallbrook’s #6 runner, finished with a time of 17:02 to place fifth among the #6 competitors. Sophomore Taty Liepelt, who was recovering from an illness, was the #5 runner but had a time of 18:12.

Fallbrook’s junior varsity runners also included Nicole Vedenoff, who had a time of 18:08, and Caroline Ponce, who crossed the finish line at 18:33.

 

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