Warrior boys take fifth at championship meet

Fallbrook High School's boys finished fifth in the Valley League cross country standings.

The league cluster meets Sept. 27 at Guajome Park and Oct. 25 at Kit Carson Park each accounted for 25 percent of the weighted league championship formula and the other half was based on the results at the league championship meet Nov. 10 at Guajome Park. Fallbrook, which placed fourth in the first league cluster and fifth in the second league cluster, took fifth place at the league championship meet.

"We did okay," said Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias.

Cross country team scores add the positions of a school's first five finishers with the sixth and seventh runners not being scored but able to add points to opponents' totals. Ramona, which had fifth-place and third-place league cluster showings, had 96 points at the league championship meet for fourth place. Fallbrook accumulated 117 points to finish ahead of Mission Vista, whose total was 119 points.

"We probably should have been in that fourth spot ahead of Ramona," Arias said.

Although Fallbrook's second runner finished one position in front of Ramona's second finisher, the next three Bulldogs placed 24th, 25th, and 26th. Fallbrook's third runner took 29th place.

"We had a couple of guys coming off illnesses," Arias said. "Unfortunately injuries and sickness happen."

The three runners who lost training days due to colds or injuries are all juniors. Osvaldo Urbina and Angel Gonzalez had colds during the two-week period between the Oct. 25 league cluster meet and the league championship meet. A minor leg injury deprived Tristan Suppe of three days of training and Suppe caught a cold later in the break between races.

Suppe, who is normally Fallbrook's fourth runner, was sixth among the Warriors' harriers at the league meet. "He fell way back," Arias said.

The teammates who normally run with Suppe during the races based their early running on Suppe's pace rather than their own. "They kind of slowed down and it threw everybody off a bit," Arias said.

The first Fallbrook runner across the finish line was junior Josh Hernandez, who finished the 3.08-mile course in 16:31.9 for sixth place among the race's 59 runners.

"I feel like I can win next year," Hernandez said.

A time of 17:46.3 gave sophomore Danny Contreras 17th place. The top 10 finishers at the league meet are given all-league first team status while the next 10 finishers receive second-team recognition, so Hernandez became part of the Valley League first team and Contreras earned a berth on the second team.

"I'm really proud and excited about both Josh and Danny," Arias said.

John Regan, a junior who transferred to Fallbrook High School from North Carolina, had the 29th-place finish and a time of 18:33.6. Urbina completed the course in 18:50.1 for 34th place. Gonzalez had the 35th-place time of 18:55.5. Suppe posted a time of 19:32.9 for 45th place. The 19:46.0 performance of junior Andres Martinez gave him 48th place. Joe Bell had a time of 19:58.6 which was worth 50th place for the junior. The 59th finisher was junior Ricardo Martinez, whose time was 22:37.8.

"I'm happy for my team, my coaches," Hernandez said.

"I'm proud of my team," Contreras said.

"It was a learning experience, setting it up for what really needs to be done for next year," Arias said. "They're making great strides."

This year's Fallbrook team had no seniors. "It's really looking up," Arias said.

"Hopefully we can win league next year," Contreras said.

"We should have a good chance of winning next year if we all put in the work during the summer," Hernandez said.

Arias noted that since most of his runners have been together for two or three years they will likely make the commitment for summer training.

"It's not a commitment to me, it's a commitment to one another," Arias said. "They've got to make that commitment to not be defeated, to not fail."