WHS cross country
The high school cross country season got off to a fast start for the Jaguars at the annual Rancho Cotate Invitational meet on Aug. 23, the unofficial start to the fall campaign.
Following months of dedicated off-season training, the Jags were among the best conditioned teams in the meet, proving that hard work really does pay off.
“I was really proud of how we competed in our first meet,” WHS coach Brandon Bronzan reported. “It was fun to run with some new faces and get those competitive juices flowing.”
The event included several races contested on the relatively flat, 2.97-mile course, including boys and girls frosh, JV and varsity.
Leading the way for the varsity boys were senior Hunter Larson (16:15) and sophomore Dustin Smith (16:17), who moved into third and fourth place among all-time WHS runners (behind Zach Price and Lucas Chung) with a pair of outstanding performances.
“Larson and Smith work well together and should be among the top runners in our league,” Bronzan noted. “Landon McAlister (17:44) and Steven Vail (17:56) were also very strong, each finishing under 18:00.”
Valentino Bugica rounded out the top five with a time of 18:56.
The varsity girls squad, led by sophomore sensation Lilja Chung, was equally impressive to finish second as a team. Chung moved into third place on the WHS all time list with a time of 19:27, just ahead of emerging freshman Elsa Nolen (20:17, a WHS freshman record) and senior Erin O’Mara (20:41, a WHS senior record). Rounding out the top five were Nataleigh Johnson (21:39) and Jayda Pignataro (23:13).
The JV boys also ran strong at the meet, capturing first place. Top Windsor runners were junior Joshua Aguayo and sophomore Tallen Theiss, who clocked times of 18:51 and 18:57 respectively.
“It was a great opportunity for a bunch of our freshmen and newcomers to get a race under their belt,” Bronzan said. “We have quite a few young runners who got to see what a cross country meet is all about.”
Next up for the Jaguars is the Lagoon Valley Classic in Vacaville on Sept. 7.
