Six Warriors given cross country all-league honors

On March 29, the Valley League cross country coaches selected the all-league teams for the 2020-21 season, and those teams included six Fallbrook runners.

Danny Contreras was chosen for the boys first team. The girls first team included Rori Gartner, Avery Lynas, and Abby Petersen. Dawson Fluck and Fisher Phillips were on the boys second team. Ten boys and 10 girls were on the first team while ten boys and ten girls were on the second team.

Normally the all-league selections are based on performance at the league championship meet; the top 10 finishers are given first-team recognition while the next ten finishers are on the second team. The 2020-21 season did not have league championship meets; following the conclusion of the league dual meets, the North County Conference held four races with teams based on competitiveness rather than league alignment. Fallbrook did not participate in that competition.

The 2020-21 all-league selections were thus based on the coaches' discussion and voting (including unanimous concurrence) as is the case for team sports. "Mike Cummings did a really good job of promoting the top runners," said Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias.

Cummings is the Valley Center High School coach. "He looked at all the times and he listed them in order," Arias said.

That gave the coaches little to debate. "Everybody was in agreement," Arias said.

Fallbrook's first meet of the season, and the only win for the Warrior boys, was against Valley Center at home March 12. Contreras finished first in that race with Fluck taking second place and Phillips obtaining third. Contreras finished second at Escondido on Feb. 19, fifth at Mission Hills in the Feb. 27 race, fifth in the March 5 home meet against Ramona, and third March 12 at San Pasqual.

Fluck finished third in the Escondido race, fourth against Mission Hills, seventh when Ramona competed, and fifth at San Pasqual. Phillips took fifth when racing Escondido runners, seventh in the Mission Hills race, ninth with the Ramona competition, and sixth against San Pasqual.

Contreras is a senior but had not previously been a first-team selection. As a freshman in 2017 he finished 29th in the league meet. He finished 17th as a sophomore to earn second-team Valley League designation in 2018. He finished 11th in the 2019 league championship meet after being passed in the stretch. "He had a pretty bad race on the last day of the year," Arias said.

Fluck was 39th in the 2019 league championship race.

Contreras was the only Fallbrook runner with previous all-league recognition. "I'm really pleased with the development of Fisher and Dawson," Arias said.

Fluck, who is a junior, was close to being a first-team selection but ended the league selection meeting on the second team. "I was a bit disappointed," Arias said.

Phillips is a freshman. "It was truly an honor for him," Arias said of the all-league selection.

Gartner, Lynas, and Petersen are all freshmen so none of them had previous all-league honors at any level. "Three of them finished first team, so it was quite an accomplishment," Arias said.

Lynas was the only one of those girls who ran in all five of the league meets. Petersen competed in three of those and Gartner was able to make two races. "They all ran really well in the meets that they ran," Arias said.

Lynas won the girls race against Valley Center and Petersen finished second, and Lynas also won the meet against Escondido. Gartner was third and Lynas finished fourth facing the Mission Hills competition. A Ramona runner won the March 5 race with Gartner taking second, Lynas placing third, and Petersen finishing fourth. The San Pasqual runners relegated Lynas to third and Petersen to fourth.

If a team does not have at least five runners a team score is not given and the team is assessed a loss. Fallbrook did not have five girls in any of the league meets and thus had a record of 0-5.

"I thought we were the team to beat this year, but we just didn't get enough runners," Arias said.

The three freshman girls provide hope for when runners don't have to choose between cross country and another sport. "Just looking forward to them coming back and putting a team together next year and making a push for the league title," Arias said.