Five Legionnaires run at CIF cross country meet

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

A cross country team must have at least five finishers to obtain a team score and Bonsall High School did not have enough runners for either the boys or the girls to place at the CIF San Diego Section championship meet Nov. 11 at Morley Field in San Diego, but four Bonsall girls and one Bonsall boy ran at the CIF meet.

Ayla Nicknom, who is a sophomore, placed 45th in the Division V girls race. Bonsall’s other three girls at the CIF meet are all juniors: Samantha Kylestewa was the 75th finisher; Krislynn Pollard took 86th place, and Mary Ramirez was 88th. The only Bonsall boy at the CIF meet, freshman Brady Cornish, was 110th.

The Morley Field course was 2.96 miles. Nicknom had a time of 24:36.7. “Real proud of that,” said Bonsall head coach Manuel Ramirez.

Kylestewa finished in 27:56.9; Pollard completed the course in 31:29.8, and Mary Ramirez took 33:07.1. Kylestewa had the 83rd-place time of 28:16.7 last year and finished the 2021 CIF race in 32:21.6 for 87th place. Ramirez also competed in the CIF meet in both of her previous high school years; her 2022 time of 29:32.6 was worth 90th place and she was the 78th finisher in 2021 with a 27:46.5 performance.

The Division V boys race included 33 freshmen, and Cornish was the 24th ninth-grader across the finish line. His time was 22:58.0.

“I’m very proud of him showing up, representing the Legionnaires,” Manuel Ramirez said. “He’s doing amazing so far. He’s got a great future ahead of him if he keeps with the sport.”

Ramirez also coaches Bonsall’s track and field team, so many of his cross country runners will also participate in that sport. “Hopefully we can get the ball rolling with the pre-season training,” he said.