For local athletes, it’s running time as the cross country
season is off and rolling.
Morgan Hill – For local athletes, it’s running time as the cross country season is off and rolling.
Sobrato High competed in the Early Bird Invitational over the weekend with strong finishes all around and Live Oak began Blossom Valley Athletic League competition on Monday.
The Acorns experienced mixed results, with the girls team earning a pair of victories over Westmont and Independence. Both boys teams were defeated in the league opener, which was the first ever BVAL event for Live Oak.
The BVAL runs its tournaments a bit differently than the Tri-County Athletic League that the Acorns had competed in the past couple of years. All teams run on the same Montgomery Park course against the same competition during each league meet, with the results sorted out based on who the teams are slated to compete against.
While coach Dean Raymond wishes his team could have some home meets, he said he might have to wait until next year to shake things up.
Eric Matsumoto was strong for Live Oak, finishing ninth overall in 18:27. Olivia Dran was the top Acorn girls finisher, clocking in at 21:39 to finish third overall.
Live Oak coach Dean Raymond said his biggest struggle is with the numbers game as he hopes to be able to field a strong contigent of runners. With star runner Cobbie Jones, a four-time state meet qualifier, graduated and off to UCLA, it could be time for some other athletes to step up and steal that starring role.
Plenty of runners at Sobrato hope to be that star.
The team is confident entering the season and has hopes of sending one, if not both, of its teams to the state meet, which takes place in Fresno on Nov. 25.
“You’re not a big deal until you go to state,” said sophomore Lance Wolfsmith, who was a freshman All-State selection last year. “It’s not out of our reach.”
Freshman Kendra Higgins, who took first place among freshman girls at the Early Bird Invitational, said the team realizes while it is working hard, that others are doing the same.
“When we think we’re dying or throwing up, we know other teams are going through the same thing,” said Higgins.
Sobrato is excited that for once it doesn’t have to worry about getting enough runners to compete. The team has nearly doubled in size since last year and has about 30 runners on the team.
Casey Schenkelberg is the lone senior for the Bulldogs boys team and, along with sophomores Wolfsmith and Alex Tolin and freshman Alan Rios, should be leaders for the boys.
The girls team will be led by its youth, beginning with Higgins and being complimented by sophomores Amber Masoni, Kirsten Kuwatani and Melina Silva. Senior Katie Alton is nursing a hip injury, but figures to be Sobrato’s secret weapon in helping the Bulldogs make the state meet.
“It would mean a lot within the first four years of the school to be able to go to state,” Alton said.
Both Live Oak and Sobrato are getting ready to compete in Saturday’s Chieftain Classic in Salinas and are two week’s away from the always competitive Stanford Invitational.
But when it matters is in late October through November. Both teams will compete in the BVAL Championships on Oct. 30, with the Central Coast Section championships following on Nov. 11. All of that will help determine if any of the local runners will achieve their dream of making the trip to Fresno for the CIF State Meet.
