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Warrior girls gain CIF cross-country meet experience

Fallbrook High School girls' cross-country coach Vickie Knox didn't expect the Warriors to place well at the CIF meet Nov. 23 on the Morley Field course in San Diego, but she still achieved her goal.

"It was just for experience, getting my girls experience. Many of my girls have not been to CIF," Knox said.

Five of Fallbrook's seven runners at the CIF meet had not previously competed at a CIF section race. The exceptions were junior Iselah Cabello and senior Maya Rink, who both ran at the CIF meet for the third time.

The Division II race had 17 teams, and Fallbrook's team score of 474 points placed 17th. The 16th-place team, Rancho Buena Vista, had a score of 410.

During Fallbrook's first two races of the season freshman Maya Papoulias was the Warriors' fastest runner and sophomore Maddy Gaul had the second-fastest Fallbrook time. Shin splints kept Papoulias from competing at the CIF meet. Gaul ran despite her shin splints but finished last among the race's 117 runners.

"Both of my top runners are injured, so I knew we were going to be out of the running," Knox said.

The first Fallbrook finisher was Cabello, whose time of 21 minutes 34.7 seconds on the 2.96-mile course placed 68th overall. Cabello's time was a personal record.

"That was really good," Knox said.

Cabello finished 82nd with a time of 22:49.2 in last year's CIF meet race. As a freshman in 2017 her time of 22:01.5 placed 64th.

Judith Colores is a senior who made her cross country debut this year. Her time of 23:12.1 placed 96th in the Division II girls' race.

The absence of Papoulias made Jade Boltinghouse the only Fallbrook freshman in this year's CIF race. She finished 107th with a time of 24:23.7.

Fallbrook's next two finishers are both sophomores who were in their first year of cross-country. Lauren Clark had the 108th-place time of 24:34.4 while a time of 24:34.7 gave Victoria Lopez 109th place.

Rink completed the course in 25:06.5 for 112th place. Her 2018 time of 24:46.7 gave her 114th place last year. Rink had a time of 24:35.1 in 2017 for 98th place. Rink ran at the junior varsity level as a freshman in 2016.

"I wanted to make sure she was able to compete all four years," Knox said.

Gaul crossed the finish line 25:46.8 after the race began.

"They all tried really hard," Knox said. "All of them had a good race."

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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