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Warrior girls second in final cross country standings

Petersen on all-league first team, four Warriors on second team

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Fallbrook High School's girls cross country team placed second in the Valley League standings.

The formula for the league championship bases positions at each of the two league cluster meets for 25% apiece while the other half is based on positions at the league championship meet. The Fallbrook girls placed second both at the first league cluster meet Oct. 1 at Guajome Park and in the second league cluster meet Oct. 29 at Kit Carson Park with Mission Hills winning both of those races. Mission Hills also won the league championship meet Nov. 13 at Guajome Park with Fallbrook taking second.

"Going into the season, I had us being close if not winning the league, but injuries and things happen," said Fallbrook High Head Coach Marco Arias.

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 opponents' scores. The Mission Hills girls had a team score of 36 points at the league championship meet; Fallbrook's total was 57 points; Ramona obtained 87 points and took third; San Pasqual had the fourth-place total of 91 points; Valley Center accumulated 94 points for fifth place, and Escondido placed sixth with 146 points.

"I am content where we ended up," Arias said. "Second's respectable. I'm okay with that."

The top 10 finishers received recognition on the all-league first team while the next 10 finishers were placed on the Valley League second team. Fallbrook sophomore Abby Petersen finished fourth for a berth on the first team while four Warriors – sophomore Cassandra Rivero, senior Maddy Gaul, freshman Lucia Mochel and sophomore Sahara Khoury – earned second-team distinction.

"I'm extremely happy. That shows their dedication," Arias said.

The temperature Nov. 13 exceeded 90 degrees. "It was pretty hot. It was pretty brutal conditions," Arias said.

"I barely made it to the finish line," Petersen said.

The league championship meet course was 5,000 meters (3.1 miles). Mission Hills sophomore Julia Ferreira had the winning time of 20:29.1. Valley Center senior Abigail Cotton placed third and completed the course in 21:22.8. Petersen finished in 21:23.9.

"I was happy with that," Petersen said. "If it wasn't so hot I think I would have gotten third."

Petersen was between third and fifth for most of the race. "It was definitely back and forth," she said.

"It was a tough race," Petersen said. "This race, they were very close to me, in front of me, behind me the whole time."

Cotton passed Petersen near the finish line. "I was on the verge of passing out at the end," Petersen said.

Petersen thus wasn't disappointed at losing third place to Cotton. "I couldn't have done anything," she said.

"She gave me everything she had," Arias said.

"It was definitely a good way to finish out the league," Petersen said. "It was just a great season."

Petersen became the Warriors' top runner by default after injuries sidelined sophomores Avery Lynas and Rori Gartner but was able to lead the team. "That was good to see," Arias said. "There was a point in the season where it kind of clicked."

Mission Hills sophomore Delaney Tobin posted a time of 21:51.2 for 10th place. Rivero's time of 22:53.1 was worth 11th place. "She was two seconds away from being first-team all-league, so that's an incredible accomplishment for her," Arias said.

"She wants to race," Arias said of Rivero. "She wants to get everything out of herself."

Fallbrook took the 13th, 14th, and 15th positions with Gaul having a 23:04.5 performance; Mochel taking 23:15.8, and Khoury crossing the finish line 23:38.5 after the race began.

"They started coming together and clustering up," Arias said.

The final all-league position was captured by Mission Hills sophomore Kaitlyn Vitrano, whose 20th-place time was 24:08.2. Fallbrook junior Jade Boltinghouse placed 22nd at 24:20.1. The other Fallbrook runner in the race, sophomore Maya Khoury, became the 38th finisher 27:57.4 after the starter's gun was fired.

"It was definitely cool to see how my team did," Petersen said.

 

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