The Metro Conference cross country season steps off Friday, Oct. 3, with a key Mesa League dual meet at Olympian High School between the host Eagles and the Otay Ranch Mustangs.
To say that the Eagles are flying high is an understatement after Olympian captured the boys frosh/soph division team championship at last Friday’s 41st annual South Bay Invitational at Rohr Park. The Eagles scored a meet-low 30 points to out-distance the 16 other teams entered in the division.
Sophomores Diego Arriola and Jorge Tejeda finished first and second, respectively, in the 5K race to lead Olympian. Arriola was the runaway winner in 17:11; Tejeda finished second in 17:51 — six seconds ahead of Poway sophomore Cody Jose and St. Augustine freshman Finn Waters.
The Eagles placed four runners among the top seven finishers in the 223-deep race and five runners among the top 15 place-finishers.
Sophomore Marlon Cortez was fifth in 17:59, while freshman Nicholas Albro was seventh in 18:03 and sophomore Agustin Richardson was 15th in 18:25.
Poway finished second in the team standings with 44 points, followed by Point Loma with 109 points and Francis Parker with 165 points.
“Our strategy was to run as a team and stay together as a pack where everyone could pace each other,” Arriola said.
Not to be outdone, Otay Ranch topped Olympian — 77 points to 110 points — to capture the boys JV team title. Otay junior Rafael Patricio finished third among the 158 individuals in the 5K race in 18:07, followed by classmate Jose Nobles in fifth place in 18:13.
The division champion Mustangs totaled three runners among the top 11 finishers while the Eagles had two placers in the top 15.
Otay Ranch paced local teams in both the boys and girls varsity fields. The Mustangs placed third in the girls varsity race and sixth in the boys varsity race.
Senior Darla Osuna finished as the top Metro girls varsity runner with a time of 15:42 on the 2.5-mile course to finish second overall in the 175-deep field. San Pasqual senior Kelli Stetson won in breakaway fashion in 15:12.
Hilltop senior Lorena Mendoza (16:07) placed seventh among individuals while Otay Ranch sophomore Eyra Alfaro (16:19) and Mustang senior Alicia Huerta (16:26) finished 11th and 14th, respectively. Bonita Vista junior Marleen Aranda (16:37) was 19th.
Bonita Vista placed seventh in the girls varsity team standings while Olympian was ninth.
Sweetwater junior Carlos Aviles-Sullivan led local boys varsity runners with a sixth-place individual finish in 16:22 on the 5K course.
Other top local runners in the 213-deep field included Chula Vista High Tech freshman Donovan Prince (13th, 16:43), Olympian senior Sydney Leverett (24th, 17:07), Chula Vista senior Cristian Baez (25th, 17:07), Otay Ranch junior Ryan Velasquez (26th, 17:08) and Mater Dei Catholic junior Salvador Rodriguez (32nd, 17:21).
Olympian finished 10th among boys varsity teams — 27 points ahead of defending Mesa League champion Bonita Vista in 11th place.
Bonita Vista, paced by individual runner-up Yazelyn Vargas, placed fourth among teams in the girls JV race. Vargas (17:48) finished three seconds behind race-winner Lisset Dominguez of Grossmont in the massive 308-deep field.
