Contreras fifth, Crain 16th in final home cross-country meet

In 2013, the North County Conference changed from dual cross-country meets to league cluster meets in which all of the league’s schools participate, but the coronavirus precautions returned this season’s meets to the dual meet format to limit the number of people at one meet.

Fallbrook High School had two home meets for the 2020-2021 cross-country season, so the March 5 meet was the final meet at home for seniors Danny Contreras and Jacob Crain.

The seniors were not honored before the race, which was the case because spectators were only allowed to watch from their vehicles. Contreras finished fifth in the boys’ race and Crain was the 16th boy across the finish line.

The two coaches at each meet determine what distance is most suitable for the two schools’ athletes. Marco Arias is Fallbrook’s boys’ coach and also coached the Warriors’ girls’ March 5, since girls coach Vickie Knox was in Texas. Arias along with Ramona coaches Sherri Edwards and Steve Albanese decided upon a 3.0-mile course for the boys and a 2.75-mile course for the girls.

“We hadn’t run this course since the format change,” Arias said.

Fallbrook also had a home meet Feb. 12, against Valley Center High School, and the coaches agreed upon a 2.0-mile course for both boys and girls. That was the first meet of the year, so the additional experience allowed the distance to be increased when Ramona High School’s teams visited Fallbrook.

“They ran the traditional former course, and they liked it,” Arias said. “They had a good time.”

Cross-country team scores are derived by adding the positions of a school’s first five finishers; the sixth and seventh finishers from each team are not scored but can add points to opponents’ totals. If a school does not have at least five runners a team score is not given. Ramona’s boys defeated Fallbrook by a 16-43 margin while the Warriors only had four girls. The results gave Fallbrook’s boys a 1-3 season record while the Warriors girls forfeited their fourth consecutive meet. Ramona’s boys and the Bulldog girls both improved their season records to 4-0.

In each of Ramona’s three previous meets, sophomore Travis Petton was the first boys’ finisher while senior Brandon McGuinness took second place. It also occurred in Fallbrook when Petton won in 16 minutes, 55 seconds and McGuinness completed the race 17:02 after it began. Ramona junior Tyler Erautt had the third-place time of 18:02 while Ramona senior Scott Wiggins finished fourth at 18:05.

“They had four really strong boys,” Arias said.

Contreras prevented a Ramona sweep with a time of 18:30.

“He went out and gave a pretty good performance,” Arias said.

Arias said that Contreras excels on hills.

“All the courses we've been running have been pretty flat,” Arias said.

The Fallbrook course utilized one hill, although the runners ascended and descended – not necessarily in that order – that hill twice.

“It’s a challenging hill,” Arias said.

Ramona junior Christopher Allen had a time of 18:41 for sixth place while Fallbrook junior Dawson Fluck finished in 18:47 to take seventh. A time of 19:21 gave Ramona sophomore Ryan Pilar eighth place. Fallbrook freshmen took ninth and 10th; Fisher Phillips completed the course in 19:21 and Devin Huntington took 19:50.

Crain had a time of 24:35. Fallbrook freshman Braven Ford became the 17th finisher 25:54 after the starter’s gun was fired.

Although Fallbrook only had four runners on the girls’ team against Ramona, freshman Rori Gartner was second, freshman Avery Lynas finished third, freshman Abby Petersen was the fourth runner across the finish line and junior Maddy Gaul took ninth place.

“We would have definitely given them a run for their money with one more girl,” Arias said.

Ramona senior Ariel Olvera-Kovacic won her third race of the season and finished in 18:07. “She has tremendous talent,” Arias said.

Gartner posted a time of 18:59, Lynas raced for 19:00 and Petersen had a 19:09 performance. The fifth-place runner, Ramona junior Yvette Martinez, finished in 20:08. Gaul completed the race 22:23 after it started.

The Fallbrook team members said they would have preferred to have defeated their Ramona counterparts but settled for the opportunity to race at home.

“They seemed to really enjoy it,” Arias said. “They really liked having the home turf aspect of it.”

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].