Three Warrior boys medal at Laguna Hills Invitational

Fallbrook High School’s boys cross-country team opened its season September 13 at the Laguna Hills Invitational, and three Warrior boys earned medals for finishing among the top 40 in their races.

Uriel Aguirre was tenth in the Division I senior boys race while Aaron Thielk finished 27th in that race. In his first-ever cross-country competition, Ramon Villagomez placed 39th in the Division I boys sophomore race.

“I think we did well. For the experience we have out there they ran pretty well,” said Fallbrook coach Marco Arias.

Fallbrook’s previous race as a team was the 2007 CIF meet, in which the Warriors placed fourth among the Division I teams. Aguirre and Thielk both participated in that meet, while the other five Warriors were seniors.

One of those seniors was Bret Hasvold, who won the CIF meet and finished fourth at the state meet. Hasvold and Aguirre then competed in the Foot Locker regional meet, where Hasvold finished 20th in the seeded boys invitational and Aguirre was 21st in the junior boys race.

This year Aguirre is taking on the role of being the team leader. “I think Uri is really stepping into that role and looking forward to running as such,” Arias said. “He’s trying to both lead by example and by some of the guidance he’s given to runners.”

Arias cautions that Aguirre will not replace Hasvold. “He’s got to run Uri’s run, not Bret’s,” Arias said. “He just wants to see how good he can be.”

Aguirre finished the Laguna Hills Invitational with a time of 15:30 for the three-mile race. “He got off pretty well. He got comfortable,” Arias said. “He performed well as far as the course.”

Thielk, who transferred from a New York school to Fallbrook for the 2007-08 season, had a time of 16:42. “I was very happy with Aaron’s time,” Arias said. “He’s starting to step into his own as far as running.”

Villagomez finished with a time of 17:21. “He’ll learn to race a little bit smarter. I think he went out a little bit fast and towards the end he was struggling to finish,” Arias said.

Villagomez was a middle distance runner during his freshman track and field season. “He tends to get out there faster than he should,” Arias said of Villagomez’s cross-country debut.

Garrison Haddon was Fallbrook’s first junior across the finish line, taking 51st place in the junior race at 17:34. Austin Rajek was the top freshman finisher for the Warriors, completing the freshman race in 19:08 to take 52nd place.

“It gave us a chance to evaluate some runners and gave us a chance to race,” Arias said of the meet. “I think they gained some experience.”

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