Bulldog girls 11th at CIF section meet

By Joe Naiman

Ramona High School’s girls cross country team finished 11th among the 19 Division II schools which fielded full teams in the CIF San Diego Section meet Nov. 17 at Morley Field in San Diego.

“It could have been a lot worse, but I was hoping for a lot better,” said coach Kim Toth. “I would have liked to have finished stronger, but we have a very young team.”

None of Ramona’s seven runners at the CIF meet were seniors, and only one of the Bulldog runners competed in last year’s section meet. Teresa Leon finished 79th at 19:39 last year, but Leon ran the 2012 meet despite shin splints and was Ramona’s final finisher with a slower time and lower position.

In 2011 Ramona placed 13th among the 20 Division II schools with full teams. “Everything this year has been an improvement,” Toth said.

A total of 131 girls competed in the Division II race. Ramona’s top finisher was Ciara Lucas, who had a time of 18:06 on the 2.75-mile course to place 37th overall. Francheska Gonzalez placed 62nd at 18:47. Arianna Ruland completed the race in 19:22 and finished 67th. Two freshmen represented Ramona in the CIF race: Delaney Toth placed 70th at 19:24 and Perla Cruz was the 76th finisher with a time of 19:45.

Anna Mazzola was Ramona’s sixth finisher, placing 86th overall and taking 20:10. Leon’s time of 21:19 made her the 104th overall runner across the finish line.

Ramona shared second place with Valley Center in the final Valley League standings, finishing behind Del Norte. The Jaguars and Nighthawks are both in Division III for CIF meet purposes. The other Division II teams in the Valley League are Oceanside, which finished 16th at the CIF meet, and Orange Glen, which did not field a full team.

“It looked like we were doing well on paper,” Kim Toth said. “That D-II division as far as CIF is tough.”