Both Vikings teams third in Hamilton cross country meet

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The seven small K-8 elementary schools and middle schools in northern San Diego County and southern Riverside County which participate in athletic tournaments with a different school hosting a different sport each month met in Anza for a March 17 cross country meet hosted by Hamilton Elementary School and based at Hamilton High School, and both the Vallecitos Elementary School boys and the Vikings' girls took third place.

Cross country team scores are derived by adding the positions of a school's first five finishers. The sixth and seventh runners are not scored but can add points to other teams' totals. The Julian Middle School girls had 26 team points, Hamilton accumulated 57 points for second, and Vallecitos placed third with 65 points. Cottonwood (Aguanga) won the boys portion with 43 team points, Julian placed second with 45 points, and the Vallecitos boys had 84 points for third place.

"Getting third, I can't be disappointed," said Vallecitos coach Ray Hanbeck.

The course was 2.0 miles for both the girls and the boys. Julian's Paisley Mendenhall was the first individual finisher in the girls race and had a winning time of 14:52. Vallecitos eighth-grader Berenice Yanez finished second at 15:18. A time of 17:37 gave seventh-grader Isabel Chavez 12th place. Eighth-grader Yamilee Rico completed the course in 20:18 for 16th place. Seventh-grader Adela Alvaro became the 17th finisher 20:32 after the race began. Eighth-grader Natalia Loera had a time of 20:44, which was worth 18th place.

"We were able to get third with those five," Hanbeck said.

Had eighth-grader Daisy Robles not dislocated her ankle descending a hill the Vikings might have obtained second place. Robles was evaluated on the course. "She wanted to cross the finish line," Hanbeck said. "It was something she wanted to do. She was determined."

Hanbeck would have been satisfied if Robles had not continued but deferred to her, especially since Robles had the support of her mother in more ways than one. Robles' mother and another parent helped Robles cross the finish line. She was not given an official time.

"She ended up just walking and hobbling," Hanbeck said.

The Vallecitos boys were healthy but young. "We only had one eighth-grader and the rest were fifth-graders," Hanbeck said. "For the boys, being mostly fifth graders, they did well."

The first Vallecitos boy across the finish line is a fifth-grader; James Sharkey posted a time of 16:11 for 11th place overall. Eighth-grader Jordan Anicete had the 12th-place time of 16:17. Jerardo Moreno finished in 16:25 for 14th place. Candelario Francisco was the 23rd finisher and took 18:15. Miguel Diaz completed the course in 20:10 for 28th place among the 37 total boys runners.

Warner Middle School will host a softball tournament which is scheduled for April 28, so the schools will meet in Warner Springs for their next competition.