ELK CREEK, CA (MPG) – Running at Stony Gorge in a Sacramento Valley League meet hosted by Willows, Williams’ Manuel Santillan and Colusa’s Itzel Cruz won the varsity boys and girls races respectively to lead the local contingent of harriers.
On the 3.1 mile course, Santillan (19:43.3-PR) edged Pierce’s Adan Beltran (19:44.3) at the line, while Colusa’s Brian Sarabia (20:16.8) finished fifth behind a pair of Willows runners.
Also ending the race in the top 10 was Williams’ Phillip Santillan (21:15.1) in seventh and ahead of a trio of RedHawks including William Griffith (21:35.3) in eighth, Marcos Deniz (21:44.1-PR) in ninth and Karim Cruz (22:12.7-PR) in tenth.
In the varsity girls contest, Cruz finished first in a personal best time of 24:24.6 and in front of the Yellowjackets’ Andrea Velazquez (24:27.0) in second place and teammate Eloise Guerrero (24:33.1) who took third.
Three other Colusa runners including Shaheen Orr (27:32.8), Olivia Stever (28:25.0) and Cristal Bruno (29:07.9) subsequently took seventh, eighth and ninth helping to lift the RedHawk girls to a team win over Willows.
Pierce dominated the two mile JV girls’ race, capturing the top five spots behind a quintet of freshman runners.
Alondra Lopez (17:20.5) took first and was followed in order by Olivia Dudley (17:22.1), Victoria Brown (18:27.7), Cindy Rodriguez (18:54.9) and Natalye Garcia (19:07.7).
The only local competitor in the JV boys’ race was Pierce’s Jonathan Navarro (18:19.9), who was second.
This week the meet, set for Oct. 29 and hosted by Williams, was relocated from Lynch Canyon Trail in Solano County which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, to the Colusa-Sacramento River State Recreation Area due to the government shutdown.