Angels Camp, the Frogtown course, was the setting for the cross country subsections on Saturday, Nov. 9. Escalon runners turned in some outstanding performances, many extending their seasons.

“We qualified 17 runners to move on to sections. The top ten teams and 10 individuals qualify in the varsity races. The top six teams and ten individuals qualify in the other races,” explained head coach Rick Heflin.

The varsity boys placed 12th as a team and Gabe Romero was the 11th individual, just missing a trip to the section meet.

“Gabe ran a 17:45,” Heflin said of his top boy on the day.

The varsity girls placed 16th. Briana Briones-Chavarria placed fifth and will advance to sections.

“The freshman boys placed fifth and also advance,” Heflin said. “The frosh/soph girls placed eighth. We were very close to making it points wise. Kim Abney and Mariana Peralta both qualified as individuals.”

The big news of the day, the coach pointed out, was the JV boys.

“The JV boys only get six teams to qualify and they have to go against Division 3, 4 and 5. Our boys placed second overall and first in Division 4,” Heflin explained. “Alvaro Desni made a huge jump and slammed his course PR by over a minute and placed second overall in the race.”

Heflin added that it was a great year overall for the cross country team.

“We would like to thank everyone for their support. Sixteen of the runners will have their last race at sections. Only varsity can move on to state,” Heflin said, adding that varsity runner Briana has a shot to extend her season.

Section race is Saturday, Nov. 16 in Folsom.

“The improvement overall this year has been crazy. This team is having a lot of fun and the future looks very bright,” said the coach. “We hope more runners will join us next year and find out why so many ran this year.”