Warrior girls third among county schools at Dana Hills Invite

Fallbrook High School’s girls cross-country team was third among San Diego County schools at the Dana Hills Invitational September 22.

The Warriors had an overall score of 85 points. Vista High School had 45 points to place first among CIF San Diego Section schools and Mount Carmel had 71 points.

The Dana Hills Invitational races are by class and the top 50 runners in each division received medals. Nine Warrior girls took home medals from the meet.

The race was also the first for Fallbrook High School since boys cross-country coach Marty Hauck died of a heart attack September 19. The boys and girls teams train together, and the Warrior girls were also recovering from the loss of Hauck.

“Tough for everybody,” said Fallbrook girls coach Troy Hamlin. “Most of them said they ran this race with Coach Hauck in their thoughts.”

The Warrior runner with the fastest time among the girls was Noelle Garcia, who placed fifth among juniors with a time of 18:37 on the 3.0-mile course. “She ran big again,” Hamlin said.

A week earlier Garcia had run a time of 18:32 on the 3.0-mile Woodbridge Invitational course, but a wet surface during the Dana Hills meet adversely affected times. “It was raining during the freshman girls meet, and it just got more and more slippery all day long,” Hamlin said.

Olivia Tidd also medaled in the junior race, placing 19th with a time of 19:32.

Kristin Parry took seventh place in the freshman race after completing the course in 19:00. “It was a big breakthrough racefor her. It was a huge race, establishing herself as one of our top runners,” Hamlin said.

Parry had run the Woodbridge Invitational course in 19:12.

Two other Warriors medaled in the freshman race. Amanda Mulkey finished 39th with a time of 20:37 and Nicole Van Duzer crossed the finish line 43rd with a time of 20:44.

Four Warriors earned medals for their performance in the senior race. Briana Lopez had a time of 19:37 which placed 20th, Leslie Grantham finished 31st at 20:04, Christa Bausch returned to cross-country after sitting out the 2006 season and was 40th with a time of 20:34, and Cassie Mulkey’s time of 20:39 gave her 42nd place.

Four Warrior girls competed in the sophomore race, although none won medals. “They did their best,” Hamlin said.