Warrior boys top Division 2, girls reach third at Running Center So Cal Invite

Fallbrook High School's boys cross-country team took first place among Division 2 schools at the 37th annual Running Center Southern Cal Invitational cross country meet Oct. 6 at Guajome Park, and the Warriors' girls placed third among Division 2 schools.

Normal cross country team scoring is based on the finishing positions of a school's first five runners, and that was the case for the So Cal Invitational novice and junior varsity races. Because the format of the varsity races involves fewer than five runners from each school, the team positions were derived from adding the times of the first five varsity runners.

The first through third runners from each school run in one varsity race, the fourth and fifth runners are in another race, and the sixth and seventh runners race together. All races for both boys and girls were on a 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) course.

Josh Hernandez had a time of 16:43.4 to finish 20th among the 57 runners in the boys 1-3 race. Danny Contreras had the 30th-place time of 17:23.3 and John Regan placed 45th at 18:16.4.

The boys 4-5 race had a total of 42 runners. Fallbrook's Tristan Suppe took 22nd place with an 18:05.0 performance and Angel Gonzalez completed the course in 19:00.6 for 34th place. Ian Whadford had a time of 19:05.1 in the boys 6-7 race to place 25th among the 34 runners while Joseph Bell was 31st and had a time of 20:29.3.

The absence of Lauren Suppe left only two Fallbrook runners in the girls 1-3 race. Iselah Cabello was 35th among the 40 girls in that race with a time of 22:45.2 and Audrey Petersen posted a time of 23:36.9 for 37th place.

The starting time for the girls 4-5 race was printed incorrectly so the two Fallbrook girls slated for that race, Jessica Wilbert and Maya Rink, were allowed to compete in the girls 6-7 race. Zuzseth Montiel was the only Fallbrook girl originally placed in the girls 6-7 race, which had a total of 31 runners. Wilbert took 20th place with a time of 23:18.9, Rink finished in 24:46.3 for 28th place, and Montiel had the 29th-place time of 24:53.2.

Fallbrook's boys took 12th among the 15 teams in the novice race which combined Division 1 and Division 2 schools. Thomas LiBrizzi placed 50th among the 140 harriers with a time of 20:25.9; Mauro Martinez took 20:58.8 which gave him 66th place; Luke Spencer garnered 78th place and posted a time of 21:17.9; Quinn Lynas became the 87th finisher 21:45.5 after the start of the race; Ryan Kendall placed 106th and had a time of 23:10.8, and Holden Lynas had a time of 28:13.6 for 125th place.

Fallbrook's junior varsity boys placed 13th among the 13 schools with full teams. Nash Youngren finished 83rd out of 179 runners and posted a time of 19:51.8; Andres Martinez was the 96th finisher and had a time of 20:03.0; Ricardo Martinez finished in 20:07.6 for 100th place; Gavin Weber raced for 21:29.2 and took 137th place, and Jacob Crain earned 161st place for his time of 22:55.2.

Three Fallbrook girls competed in the novice race. Regina Jesus placed 41st with a time of 25:42.2; Devan Budd had a 64th-place finish and a time of 31:42.7, and Maddy Gaul posted a time of 32:06.4 for 65th place.