Bulldog harriers compete in league cluster meet
By Joe Naiman
The Ramona High School cross country team’s first Valley League cluster meet with all six league teams took place Oct. 4 at Guajome Park.
The Bulldog varsity boys took fourth among the six teams and the junior varsity boys were third among the four teams with enough JV runners to obtain a team score.
“They did okay,” said Head Coach Steve Albanese.
Team scores are obtained by adding the positions of a school’s top five finishers, so no team score is given if a school has fewer than five runners. Ramona’s varsity girls had four harriers while only three Bulldog junior varsity girls competed.
“We’re dealing with a lot of injuries right now, so we couldn’t even put together a full team,” Albanese said.
The boys course at Guajome Park was 5,000 meters, or 3.1 miles. Ramona’s top finisher, Isaiah Spieker, placed sixth with a time of 16:26. Joey Jauregui was 22nd at 17:22, Colin Uekert posted a time of 17:26 for 23rd place, James Meskell had a 25th-place time of 17:42, and Ben Stein took 18:03 and earned 28th place.
Danny Edwards was Ramona’s first finisher in the junior varsity boys race, taking 19:03 and placing eighth. Jackson Sutter took 13th place after completing the course in 19:15, Colton Meskell spent 19:27 racing and finished 16th, Eduardo Saucedo was 18th with a time of 19:38, and Chance Hardin finished 28th after a 19:58 performance.
“I’m pretty happy that all these guys broke 20 minutes,” Albanese said. “I think they have a lot of potential.”
Sutter is a sophomore while the other four top finishers are freshmen.
“We have a pretty decent freshman class,” said Albanese.
The girls utilized a 2.75-mile course. Two of Ramona’s three junior varsity girls finished in the top 10: Lucia Hernandez was eighth at 21:28 while Nicole Pshsnychniak took ninth place with a 21:39 performance. Aixa Garcia-Cedillo had a time of 24:43 to finish 33rd.
Perla Cruz was Ramona’s top varsity girls finisher, receiving 17th place for her 18:53. Chloe Knowd and Rachel Brown ran together with Knowd finishing 25th at 19:38 and Brown taking 26th place at 19:20. Holly Trout had a 43rd-place time of 21:36.
The Bulldogs will return to Guajome Park for their next meet, which is the Oct. 18 Southern California Invitational.