Action for the Cougar cross country team this week saw them head to Angels Camp for a Saturday event.

“Our season is going well. We have settled down with a solid team of 54 athletes,” said head coach Rick Heflin. “Frogtown invite was on Saturday. The boys scored very well in all divisions.”

The freshman boys took third place in their race. The sophomore boys took second and the varsity took fifth. The JV boys won their race.

“Many of the runners that ran last year on this course at subsections posted better times on Saturday than last year,” Heflin pointed out. “It is exciting to see the improvement this early in the season.”

The Escalon squad did not have full teams on the girls side but several girls did well individually, said Heflin, with Adela Ley-Han finishing second in her race and Jackie Lau leading the varsity girls.

Boys

For the freshmen, Josh Corrales took 13th overall in 13:20 and also in the top 20 was Brandon Grajeda, 16th in 13:38.

Leading the sophomores was Braiden Vega, finishing 10th in 13:16. Seven sophomores finished in the top 20 for Escalon. Along with Vega, they included: Moises Grajeda, 11th, 13:27; David Plascencia, 14th, 13:44; Miguel Plascencia, 15th, 13:44; Gino Stern, 17th, 14:00; Manuel M. Diaz, 19th, 14:03; and Max Teague, 20th, 14:03.

Six JV Cougar boys broke into the top 20, vaulting them to the top spot overall. Xavier Chavez was third, 19:45; Jayden Lopez, fourth, 20:15; Josh Teske, fifth, 20:26; Daniel Luis, 13th, 21:16; Brandon Karp, 15th, 21:29; Ross Calderon, 20th, 22:03.

At the varsity level, Gabriel Romero ran an 18:12 for Escalon, taking 16th overall. He was the only Cougar runner in the top 20, though four runners completed the course in the 18’s. Samuel Fletcher ran an 18:18, 21st; Juan Lopez, 18:25, 27th; Rex Robbins, 18:48, 40th overall.

Girls

Escalon’s top frosh-soph girl was Tess Bedell, 39th overall in 19:21.

Adela Ley-Han took second overall in the JV girls race at 18:14 and Cady Wing finished sixth in 19:17.

Jackie Lau paced the varsity girls’ effort with a time of 23:39, taking 28th overall.

“This week starts our Jog-a-thon. Every year we raise money for our training weekend, uniforms, team shirts and equipment, and lodging for away meets,” the coach explained. “Our Sports Boosters help us out a lot but we try to raise money also since they help all of the teams. The Jog-a-thon is one of two fundraisers that the team does. We also put on a cross country invite during the season.”

If you are interested in sponsoring a runner for the Jog-a-thon, contact Coach Heflin at the high school, 209-838-7073, or contact a cross country runner.

The team also heads to the Mother Lode League Meet on Wednesday, Sept. 20.