The first month of the high school cross country season has been reserved largely for invitational events. As October dawns, league dual meets set the stage for November’s championship races.
South County runners have been very active thus far despite the hot weather.
The season got a preview Aug. 24 with the Baron-Raider 2-Mile Challenge. Bonita Vista runners grabbed the top three finishing berths in the 52-deep boys race through seniors Sebastian Aranda (10:44.51), Joshua Hoffman (10:49.35) and Adan Hurtado (10:51.39). Senior Brian Ibarra led Southwest in fourth place in 11:07.33, followed by junior Nicolas Lopez in fifth place in 11:13.97.
The girls race featured 25 entrants. The top four place-finishers were from Bonita Vista: junior Renee Khuong (13:19.50), senior Olympia Jara (14:04.61) and sophomores Juliana Martinez (14:24.49) and Amanda Lee (15:29.56). Southwest senior Arely Pina finished fifth in 15:34.13.
The Lady Barons, however, dominated the field with 17 of the top 18 finishers.
The Ian Cumming/Tim Latham Invitational took place Sept. 6 with temperatures pushing the 90-plus degree mark. The event included 52 teams and 10 divisions — four varsity, four junior varsity and two freshman/sophomore.
Sweetwater senior Matteo Garcia finished runner-up in the 137-deep Red Devils boys varsity division in 10:20.3 over the two-mile Rohr Park course while Southwest sophomore Carlos Martinez was the top South County finisher in the 124-deep Mustangs boys varsity division in 10:35.4.
Sweetwater junior Amadeous Lozano was 11th in the Red Devils division in 10:59.4 to help Sweetwater place second among the 19 scoring teams in the division.
Bonita Vista senior Sebastian Aranda, the Metro Conference’s top returning runner after place third at the 2023 conference finals, placed 18th in the Mustangs boys varsity division in 10:10:37.2 as the Barons finished eighth as a team ahead of Southwest (ninth), Otay Ranch (10th), Olympian (11th) and Eastlake (13th).
San Ysidro sophomore Miah Bermudez finished fifth in the 90-deep Red Devils girls varsity race in 13:17.2 while senior teammate Emma Martinez was 13th in 13:50.3. The Lady Cougars finished fourth among the 10 scoring teams behind Oceanside, Christian and Imperial and ahead of fifth place Mater Dei Catholic.
The Mustangs girls varsity division race featured 110 runners in a very competitive field. Scripps Ranch junior Jada Kim won the two-mile race in 11:47.3 — five seconds ahead of Francis Parker junior Ariela Liorens (11:52.6) and 10 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Isabella Ramos (11:57.1) from Pt. Loma.
Otay Ranch senior Aviva DeVore was the Metro Conference’s top finisher in the race in 22nd place in 12:45.7 while Olympian junior Isabel Lara was 24th in 12:48.5. Eastlake freshman Kareli Rascon was next up among local runners in 27th place in 12:51.2, followed by sophomore teammate Charlize Cruz in 36th place in 13:13.4. Finishing in the top half of the race were Eastlake junior Solana Kitamura (40th place, 13:22.8), Bonita Vista’s Khuong (42nd place, 13:26.2), Eastlake junior Andrea Prado-Tamayo (44th place, 13:38.9), Hilltop junior Melanie Cisneros (45th place, 13:31.3), Hilltop sophomore Kamilah Cone (51st, 13:50.5) and Olympian senior Alyssa Alaman 54th, 13:56.7).
Eastlake led the Metro teams in the division in fifth place arrears of Scripps Ranch, Pt. Loma, Poway and Steele Canyon. Otay Ranch was 10th while Olympian was 11th among the 16 scoring teams.
Sweetwater senior Bryan Magana emerged as the winner in the 78-deep Red Devils boys JV division in 11:42.2 while Bayfront Charter junior Marco Andrade was ninth in 12:48.1. Sweetwater finished third as a team behind the San Diego Cavers and West Hills Wolf Pack.
Six Metro runners finished among the top 11 place-finishers in the 141-deep Mustangs boys JV division: Southwest sophomore Esteban Aguilera (fifth, 11:29.1), Olympian senior Andrew Gainer (sixth, 11:30.2), Bonita Vista senior Aaron Tighe (seventh, 11:38.0), Otay Ranch juniors Nolen Cruz (eighth, 11:39.9) and Kalani Patel (ninth, 11:48.6) and Otay Ranch Vi Barker (11th, 11:50.6).
Olympian finished second to Poway in the division standings while Bonita Vista was fourth, Southwest was fifth and Otay Ranch was seventh.
Eastlake (sixth place), Olympian (seventh place), Otay Ranch (eighth place), Bonita Vista (ninth place) and Hilltop (10th place) finished in the middle of the pace in the Mustangs girls JV division team standings. Olympian junior Jessica Meza Campos led the local contingent in 13th place in the 166-deep race in 14:20.6, followed by Eastlake senior Dalila Quedraogo (16th place, 14:23.3), Bonita Vista freshman Bella Hernandez (17th place, 14:32.5), Otay Ranch freshman Sayen Osorio (20th place, 14:40.8) and Southwest’s Pina (23rd, 14:47.3).
Sweetwater sophomore Atlakamani Magana (23rd place, 16:17.5) and Mater Dei Catholic freshman Abby Ceschini (29th place, 16:31.5) were the top South County finishers in the 126-deep Red Devils girls JV race.
Sweetwater was seventh and Mater Dei Catholic was eighth among the 10 scoring teams.
Among the region’s up-and-coming harriers, Otay Ranch freshman Noah Shorey claimed fifth place in the 243-deep Mustangs boys frosh-soph division in 11:27.5 while Bonita Vista sophomore Lukas Brown was sixth in 11:35.1.
Other top 20 place-finishers in the marathon-winding race included Olympian sophomores Micah Schenko (11th place, 11:45.5) and Carlos Gonzalez (12th place, 11:46.7), Bonita Vista freshman Isaac Khuong (15th place, 11:51.8), Olympian freshman Adrian Lara (19th place, 11:56.8) and Hilltop freshman Isaac Flores (20th place, 12:00.5).
Olympian finished third among the 15 scoring teams in the division while Otay Ranch was fourth and Bonita Vista was sixth.
Dual meet schedules
Bonita Vista will host Eastlake on Thursday, Oct. 10, and will run at Olympian on Friday, Oct. 18. The Barons will host Otay Ranch on Friday, Nov. 1, in advance of the conference championship meet Friday, Nov. 8, at Rohr Park.
Otay Ranch will host Olympian on Friday, Oct. 11, and travel to Eastlake on Friday, Oct. 18. Eastlake will host Olympian on Friday, Nov. 1.
The San Diego Section finals are Saturday, Nov. 16 at Morley Field.
“On the boys side, we have a large number of seniors who are four-year members of our program,” Bonita Vista coach Dan Kettlehake said. “They have steadily improved and could contend for the Mesa League championship if they continue to progress. We also have some younger runners (Lukas Brown and Ethan Heredia) who were impressive last season in cross country and track. It looks like we are going to have a large ninth-grade class to help bolster our roster.”
On the BVHS girls side, Kettlehake is excited because of the large class of ninth-graders joining the program. “Several of them had strong seasons in the middle school program and will definitely add to the depth of our girls program,” he said.
Metro-South Bay League Duals
Oct. 4: Hilltop will host Sweetwater on Oct. 4
Oct. 11: Sweetwater vs. Southwest at Rohr Park; Mar Vista, Montgomery vs. Chula Vista at Rohr Park
Oct. 18: Hilltop at Mater Dei Catholic
Oct. 25-26: 76th Mt. SAC Invitational, Kit Carson Invitational
Nov. 1: Hilltop at Southwest; Sweetwater vs. San Ysidro, Mater Dei Catholic at Rohr Park
Metro-Pacific League Duals
Oct. 11: Mar Vista, Montgomery vs. Chula Vista at Rohr Park
