Putting together a solid effort in what turned out to be their final appearance of the year, 28 Escalon runners took part in Saturday’s cross country Section Meet in Folsom.
The JV team ran in a race with all divisions.
“We ended up as the top Division 4 team edging out El Dorado High School,” said head coach Rick Heflin.
Leading the way for the JV boys: Daniel Galvin was 28th in 19:03, Josh Teske was 67th, 21:13; Samuel Thomson 68th, 21:18; David Ryan 70th, 21:29; Lucas Guadagnolo 72nd, 21:45; John Lunn 22:30, 74th; and Tim Megenney 23:37, 77th.
“The big news of the day was the varsity boys race. The teams were so close that literally six teams had a real shot at the number two spot to advance to state,” noted Heflin. “Calaveras ended up with the spot but all teams ran well. We ended up fifth in the race.”
Leading the group was Eddy Calderon 23rd, 18:08.4; Sam Fletcher 24th, 18:08.5; Rex Robbins 18:15, 26th; Zack Gardner 18:28, 30th; Gabe Romero 18:35, 35th; Emiliano Ramirez 19:21, 47th; and Juan Lopez 19:45, 57th.
“Our top five scores were an amazing 27 seconds apart. Being that close in a pack is awesome. We just needed to be a little farther up in the race,” Heflin said.
Varsity girls qualified in the ninth spot but ended up in the seventh spot at Sections. Leading the way was Yajaira Salinas 21:57, 16th; Jackie Lau 22:16, 20th; Nora Nash 23:03, 34th; Marisol Aguayo 23:06, 35th; Lizeth Calderon 25:19, 55th; Gabriela Avalos 25:48, 56th; and Emily McPherrin 27:48, 61st.
“The freshman boys sparked up the day,” Heflin said. “They came in ranked fourth and almost won it all. They fell just eight points short but did get runner up honors.”
Andres Cornejo led the charge at 13:28, finishing eighth, followed by Moises Grajeda 13:33, 10th; Miguel Marmol 13:34, 11th; Miguel Plascencia 13:46, 14th; David Plascensia 13:53, 15th; Gino Stern 14:07, 20th; and Max Teague 14:14, 22nd.
“Tons of the runners had course records,” Heflin said of the successful conclusion to the season for the team. “Rex Robbins and Jackie Lau dropped 30 seconds from the last time they ran here. The team would like to say ‘Thank you’ for all the support the school and community has given us.”
