Bulldog girls 2nd in league cross country meet

By Joe Naiman

Ramona High School’s girls cross country team finished second in the Valley League meet Nov. 10 at Guajome Park.

“It went very well. Even with injuries and some of the girls not running as well as I would have liked them to, it still went very well,” said coach Kim Toth.

Team scores are derived by adding the positions of a school’s top five finishers. Del Norte won the meet, along with the league championship, with 34 points. Ramona had 68 points and Valley Center had 73 points.

The final league standings are based on both a team’s position at the league meet and dual meet records. Ramona’s 3-2 dual meet record placed third, behind Del Norte and Valley Center. Thus, Ramona and Valley Center shared second place in the final standings.

“Very nice improvement,” said Toth, whose team was winless in five Palomar League dual meets last year and finished last in the 2011 league meet. “It makes coaching that much better.”

The top 10 finishers at the league meet earn first-team all league honors while the next 10 finishers earn berths on the league’s second team. Five of Ramona’s runners received all league recognition.

Ciara Lucas finished ninth overall with a time of 18:12 on the 2.75-mile course while Anna Mazzola rounded out the first team with a 10th-place time of 18:14. Arianna Ruland’s time of 18:27 gave her 14th place, Francheska Gonzalez secured 15th place with an 18:30 performance, and 20th place went to freshman Perla Cruz for her time of 18:56.

Teresa Leon finished 23rd overall at 19:09 and freshman Delaney Toth took 25th place with a time of 19:15.

Schools can field up to 12 runners at the league meet but only seven at the CIF section meet, which will occur this Saturday at Morley Field in San Diego. Ramona’s eighth-place runner at the league meet was senior Julie Ward, whose final high school race produced a time of 19:39. Ward is the only senior on the team.