Warriors sixth as a team

Three Fallbrook High School boys received medals for being among the top 40 in the Kit Carson Invitational cross-country meet's Teal Division varsity race Oct. 25 at Kit Carson Park in Escondido.

Fallbrook senior Josh Hernandez placed sixth among the 144 runners in the Teal Division varsity boys race, junior Danny Contreras was the 15th harrier across the finish line, and senior John Regan took 28th place.

"It went pretty well," Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias said.

The Warriors finished sixth among the 19 Teal Division schools which had the minimum five runners for a team score.

"One of the positives is that we ended up beating Valley Center and Escondido, but the negative is we ended up losing to San Pasqual," Arias said.

Fallbrook, Valley Center, Escondido, and San Pasqual are all in the Valley League as are Ramona (which spent the weekend at the Mt. SAC Invitational) and Mission Vista (which was in the Black Division at the Kit Carson Invitational). The formula for the league championship is based on positions at the two league cluster meets and at the league championship meet which will be held Nov. 15 at Kit Carson Park. During the first league cluster meet Oct. 3 at Kit Carson Park a team score of 70 points placed Fallbrook second while San Pasqual had the winning score of 44 points.

"I think we can catch up and make a move toward the league title at the finals," Arias said.

The Kit Carson Invitational course was 3.05 miles.

"It was really hard conditions," Arias said. "It was hot, dry, dusty."

The winning time of 16:27.7 was posted by San Diego High School senior Henry McClish. Hernandez finished in 17:17.6, Contreras took 17:35.6, and Regan completed the course in 17:59.5.

"Then we dropped off," Arias said.

Fallbrook's fourth finisher, senior Ricardo Martinez, placed 69th overall with a time of 19:19.2. Christian Goodell had a time of 19:22.1 to give the senior 72nd place. The time of senior Joe Bell was 20:08.0, which was worth 99th place. Ivan Ixta, who was Fallbrook's only sophomore in the race, became the 102nd finisher 20:13.4 after the race began.

Cross-country team scores add the positions of a school's first five finishers. The sixth and seventh runners are not scored but can add points to other teams' totals. Fallbrook accumulated 178 points at the Kit Carson Invitational. Fifth-place High Tech High San Diego had 177 points and seventh-place Sweetwater had 194 points.