Warrior boys fifth at league cross-country meet

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Fallbrook High School’s boys cross-country team placed fifth among the six Valley League teams at the league championship meet Thursday, Nov. 3, at Kit Carson Park.

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’ totals. San Pasqual High School won the league championship meet with 47 points, Ramona High School had 59 points for second, Valley Center High School obtained 64 points for third place, Mission Hills High School was fourth with 86 points, Fallbrook accumulated 106 points and Escondido High School had the sixth-place score of 137 points.

“A little disappointed,” Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias said.

The six teams also participated in two league cluster meets. In the first league cluster, Sept. 30. at Kit Carson Park, the Warriors finished fourth, four points behind third-place Ramona and seven points behind second-place Mission Hills. The second league cluster was Oct. 14, at Guajome Park, and Fallbrook also placed fourth.

Also, Fallbrook held homecoming Oct. 14, and a flu at the school has been traced to the homecoming dance.

“We got hit with respiratory issues,” Arias said. “It cost us our number four and five guys.”

The league championship meet was 20 days after the homecoming dance, but the flu impaired the ability of the Fallbrook runners to practice.

In both league cluster meets, Mission Hills junior Joel Ras was the first boys finisher and Ramona senior Ryan Pilar took second. It was also the case at the league championship meet when Ras won the 3.05‑mile race in 16 minutes, 55 seconds and Pilar had a time of 17:29.9. Fallbrook’s first finisher Nov. 3, junior Jose Rivera, had the ninth-place time of 18:12.1.

“It was painful, but I pushed through,” Rivera said.

The top 10 finishers in each league championship meet race receive recognition on the all-league first team while the next 10 finishers are on the all-league second team. Rivera thus earned first-team Valley League recognition.

“It feels good,” he said. “I worked hard during the summer.”

The final berth on the all-league second team was earned by senior Drew Tegt, whose 20th-place time was 18:46.2. Escondido senior Anthony Hijar finished in 18:48.2 for 21st place. Fallbrook sophomore Jaden Herrera finished 22nd at 18:50.3.

Rivera played football as a freshman and focused on soccer and track and field during his sophomore year. Tegt was on Fallbrook’s track and field team and made his cross-country debut this year.

“Both of those guys are first-year runners. It’s quite an accomplishment,” Arias said of Rivera and Tegt receiving all-league designation.

Fallbrook’s fourth finisher, sophomore Timothy Rouse, completed the course in 19:02.2 for 26th place. A time of 19:28.3 gave junior Braden West 30th place.

“They’re still young. We didn’t have a returner make up the top five,” Arias said.

Daniel Wilson, who is currently a junior, finished the 2022 league championship race in 19:55.8 for 35th place. Last year, when the league championship meet was held at Guajome Park, Wilson was also Fallbrook’s sixth finisher and was the 47th overall finisher with a time of 21:53.4. Abraham Hughes was Fallbrook’s seventh finisher this year; the senior became the 36th overall finisher 19:56.7 after the race began.

Each school is allowed up to 12 runners at the league championship meet, and the Warriors had 11. In both league cluster races, sophomore Connor MacMillan was the fourth Fallbrook finisher, but his illness relegated him to a league championship meet time of 20:13.3 which was worth eighth place among Fallbrook harriers and 39th overall. In 2021, MacMillan was the seventh Fallbrook finisher and the 51st overall finisher with a time of 23:29.9.

The first league championship race for junior Abiezer Moreno included a time of 20:48.1 and 47th place. Fallbrook’s other two runners are both seniors; Tyler Dudley took 49th place with a time of 20:57.9 and Daniel Macedo finished 54th with a 21:58.8 performance.

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