Cross country competes at Bronco Invitational without top seven
By Meghan Bobrowsky,
BlueDevilHUB.com Editor-in-Chief–
The Blue Devil harriers competed at the annual Bella Vista Bronco Invitational in Folsom on Saturday–scoring first place, second place, fourth place and fifth place finishes–without their top seven varsity runners who were taking a break before next weekend’s meet.
10 freshmen and sophomore boys were selected to race in the 3,400 meter limited entry frosh/soph race and worked together to score fifth place as a team. Individual contributors included sophomores Juan Zarate-Sanchez, who finished fourth overall with a time of 11:36, and Daniel Smith, who crossed the finish line in 18th place with a time of 12:01.
The remaining freshmen and sophomore boys ran in the unlimited frosh/soph race and secured a fourth place team victory. Sophomores Tristan Sturm, seventh place overall in 12:52, and Kyle Tanner, 17th place overall in 13:10, contributed to the team’s effort.
Tanner thinks that racing at Willow Hills before helped him to remember race strategies.
“My race was pretty good. I struggled a little bit on up hills,” Tanner said. “The biggest challenge of this race was the weather.”
All freshmen and sophomore girls competed in the same 3,400 meter frosh/soph race and placed second to Buchanan. Freshman Selby Anderson scored fifth place with a time of 13:55 and freshman Lily Byrne (14:15) was 20 seconds behind in seventh place.
Two seniors–Annabelle Zhou and Willa Moffatt–were moved up to varsity due to scheduling conflicts, but Davis did not produce an overall team score in the 5,000 meter race because those were the only two Davis athletes running. Moffatt placed 101st in 23:11 and Zhou placed 159th in 25:58.
Juniors Mack Fee and Jamie Moddelmog were faced with the same scheduling conflict, and as a result were the only two Davis boys running varsity. Moddelmog finished in 78th place with a time of 18:02 and Fee secured 103rd place in 18:32.
All other junior and senior girls ran in the 5,000 meter junior varsity race; the team won their race with a perfect score (15 points). Juniors Ava Wittkop (21:41) and Odessa Seng (21:42) placed second and third overall, respectively. Senior Hallie Lassiter (21:44) and juniors Amanda Nazario (21:48) and Claire Deamer (21:58) also contributed to the team’s victory.
Lassiter cited previous experience on the course as a negative impact on her race.
“I know exactly where and when it’s going to hurt, and it’s a really painful one,” Lassiter said.
The junior varsity boys rounded out the day’s races with a second place team finish. Juniors Perry Winsor (17:57) and Stephen Nichols (18:09) pulled their weight, placing third and seventh, respectively.
Next weekend, a select group of harriers will travel to Mt. SAC in Walnut to compete against teams from all over the country.
