Kyle Jimenez and Zack Gardner finished ninth and 10th, respectively, at the Trans-Valley League meet number two for Escalon’s varsity boys, while Yajaira Salinas was Escalon’s first girl across the line, 10th place overall.
Jimenez clocked an even 18:00 on the course at Legion Park in Modesto, with Gardner close behind at 18:02. Rounding out Escalon’s top six were Eduardo Calderon, 11th, 18:19; Luga Mendoza, 18th, 19:02; Ryan Schuurman, 35th, 20:05 and John Lunn, 38th, 20:18.
For the girls, Salinas ran the course in 21:52, followed my Marisol Aguayo, 16th, 22:56; Nora Nash, 17th, 22:56; Veronica Grajeda, 20th, 23:10; Jackie Lau, 21st, 23:11 and Avery Mello rounding out the top six, 28th in 23:47.
“The meet went well,” noted head coach Rick Heflin. “Varsity girls placed fourth and the varsity boys placed third. The varsity boys are still improving. We should see at least three of our runners break into the seventeens before long.
“A lot of our runners stepped up to see if they could make the varsity teams so frosh/soph levels were a little light.”
Leading the frosh/soph boys was Tim Megenney, 10th in the 2-mile at 13:01, followed by Trenton Nascimento, 14th, 13:23; Victor Gonzalez, 22nd, 14:33; Ian McCulloch, 25th, 14:53; Nathan Sarkozy, 26th, 14:56; and, rounding out the top six, Danny Bava, 29th, 15:01.
Only three runners were in the frosh/soph girls race for Escalon, paced by the fourth place finish of Lizeth Calderon, 14:44; Cady Wing, 29th, 17:38; Angelica Liv, 36th, 20:47.
After the Wednesday league meet, the team headed out for their annual training weekend at Bear River Reservoir.
“Training weekend went awesome. The runners ran up a course that was 9.41 miles long and had an altitude change of over 800 feet. The course started at 6200 feet,” explained Heflin. “The weekend brings the athletes together and helps them perform as a team. The team would like to thank all of the donors to our jog-a-thon that made it possible for us to get this team time and specialized training.”
Today, Oct. 7, Escalon hosts its annual invitational at Woodward Reservoir outside Oakdale.
Teams expected to participate include Riverbank, Hughson, Hilmar, Bret Harte, Summerville, Linden, Mountain House, Ripon and West, among others. A total of 17 teams are scheduled, said Heflin.
“Expect strong competition between Riverbank, Hughson, Bret Harte and Summerville,” the coach added.
Race times at Woodward are as follows: freshman girls 3:30 p.m., freshman boys 3:50 p.m., sophomore girls 4:10 p.m., sophomore boys 4:30 p.m., varsity girls 4:50 p.m., varsity boys 5:20 p.m., JV boys and girls 5:50 p.m.
