Verdugo takes over as BHS cross country coach

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Michelle Verdugo is now the Bonsall High School cross country coach.

Verdugo takes over for Tamara Miller, who is now an assistant coach at Fallbrook High School.

"They needed a coach and I was invited to do the job," Verdugo said. "It's just an awesome opportunity I hope impacts our young adult students in hopefully a life-changing way."

Verdugo was raised in Montebello and attended St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs where she ran cross country and track and was also a cheerleader. She lived in Marina Del Rey and Dana Point before moving to Bonsall 13 years ago. Verdugo's parents had moved to Fallbrook about a year earlier. "I want to be close to them," Verdugo said.

After living in Bonsall for 11 years Verdugo moved to Fallbrook two years ago.

"I'm pretty involved in the community," Verdugo said.

Professionally Verdugo is a certified nutritionist. She was also the 2017-18 honorary mayor of Fallbrook.

She has not previously coached high school cross country or track and field, but she is not completely new to coaching. "I have some marathon coaching experience," Verdugo said.

Those marathons were often for charity. "That was a fun experience," Verdugo said.

Verdugo herself runs marathons and half-marathons.

This year's Bonsall High School cross country team has eight boys and two girls. The boys include two sets of brothers: senior Adam Tamimi, freshman Gabriel Tamimi, sophomore Brayden Duke and freshman Devin Duke. Both of the Bonsall girls are freshmen.

The Aug. 26 Frontier Conference time trial on the NTC Park at Liberty Station course (the name reflects the site's former use as the Naval Training Center in San Diego) wasn't an official meet but gave the runners practice. "They had a lot of fun on that one. That was good," Verdugo said.

The first actual meet was a Frontier Conference cluster meet (a cluster meet means that all teams in the league or conference participate) Sept. 9 at NTC Park. Cross country team scores are derived by adding the positions of a team's first five finishers, so a minimum of five runners is necessary for a team score. Bonsall's girls don't have enough runners to be scored as a team while the Legionnaires' boys were fifth Sept. 9.

All races at the first Frontier Conference cluster meet were 3.0 miles. High Tech High Chula Vista senior Valencio Coco won the boys race in 16:33.7 while Bonsall senior Ethan McFarland was second at 16:46.1. A time of 23:14.5 gave sophomore Jeffrey Lee 26th place, freshman Jason Martinez finished 35th at 25:24.2, Brayden Duke had a 35:02.8 performance worth 45th place, and Devin Duke completed the race in 36:33.0 for 46th place. Mary Ramirez was the 22nd girls race finisher and took 29:53.4 while Samantha Kylestewa had a 41st-place finish and a time of 36:41.0.

"We did good. Not all of them were kind of ready yet," Verdugo said.

The seventh annual High Tech High North County Small Schools Invitational took place Sept. 15 at Discovery Lake in San Marcos. All of the race were 5,000 meters (3.1 miles). The Bonsall boys placed fifth as a team with Lee having a time of 23:43 for 25th place, Gabriel Tamimi finishing 27th at 23:44, Martinez becoming the 32nd finisher 25:30 after the start of the race, Adam Tamimi taking 33rd with a time of 26:01, Brayden Duke posting the 40th-place time of 34:14, and Devin Duke finishing 41st with a 34:16 performance. Ramirez was 14th in the girls race with a time of 29:52 while Kylestewa finished in 38:20 for 21st place.

Bonsall returned to NTC Park for the second Frontier Conference cluster meet Sept. 22. All of that day's races were 5,000 meters. Coco won the boys race in 16:46.4 while McFarland took second with a time of 17:03.3. Lee posted a time of 22:36.0 for 26th place. Martinez was 45th at 24:25.3, senior Lucas Lopez finished in 24:31.4 to take 46th place, and Adam Tamimi had a time of 25:21.2 and a 49th-place finish.

The Duke brothers ran in the boys junior varsity race. Brayden Duke finished 32nd at 28:38.8 and Devin Duke had the 39th-fastest time of 31:29.2.

Ramirez completed the girls race in 28:57.0 for 25th place. Kylestewa finished that race in 34:29.3 for 54th.

The Legionnaires made a Sept. 24 trip to Morley Field in San Diego for the Coach Downey Cross Country Classic meet for small schools. Bonsall did not enter the junior varsity boys race, which was the only high school race completed before a thunderstorm canceled the meet.

The third Frontier Conference cluster meet is scheduled for Oct. 14 at NTC Park.

Verdugo hopes that utilizing her running knowledge will be another community contribution. "It's basically the gift that cross country gave me and I'm hoping they receive that gift as well," she said.

"It teaches endurance and perseverance and so many amazing qualities. It's not just about running," Verdugo said. "I'm hoping that as their coach they will be positively impacted for the rest of their lives."