Sports
Temecula Cross Country Runners Advance to CIF Competition
The six high school cross country teams from the Southwestern League came together Thursday afternoon to compete for the league finals.
When all was said and done, the varsity girls from Great Oak and the varsity boys from Vista Murrieta came out on top.
Girls Varsity
The 2.95-mile course is situated on the east side of Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet. The weather was nearly perfect and the course conditions prompted the athletes to push for excellent times and personal records.
Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Great Oak girls continued their quest for a state championship by winning the league finals in convincing style. Led by junior Ashley Helbig with a winning time of 17:14.1, the Wolfpack scored a mere 21 points (low score wins) and had their top five runners in the top eight at the finish line.
Great Oak won the 2010 state champion and came in seventh last season.
Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Vista Murrieta’s girls varsity team came in second with 63 points while Temecula Valley came in third with 83 points, led by Angela Ziff’s seventh-place finish (17:41.1).
The top three varsity teams advance to next Saturday’s CIF-Southern Section Prelims at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
Runners finishing in positions one through six who aren’t otherwise a member of a CIF playoff-bound team are rewarded with a place at the starting line at next week’s CIF-SS Prelims. Taylor Taite of Murrieta Mesa finished second (17:18.1) and Chaparral’s Chandler Kerr finished in sixth place (17:37.7). They will compete next week at Mt. SAC.
Girls Varsity Team Scores:
Great Oak 21
Vista Murrieta 63
Temecula Valley 83
Chaparral 101
Murrieta Mesa 122
Murrieta Valley 146
Boys Varsity
Senior Kaden Lapham of Great Oak was the top Temecula-area competitor in his varsity race, finishing in third with a time of 14:56.5.
Vista Murrieta senior Porter Reddish won the race (14:43.9) followed by his teammate senior Omar Solis (14:54.9).
Temecula Valley’s top finisher was Okaro Shinn in eleventh place (15:40.4) followed by Chaparral’s top finisher Jason Carey in twelfth (15:44.0).
As a team, Great Oak finished with 37 points, just missing Vista Murrieta’s total of 31 points. Chaparral with 94 points just missed advancing to CIF Prelims as Murrieta Mesa finished third with 93 points. Temecula Valley grabbed the fifth position with 142 points while Murrieta Valley finished sixth with 147 points.
Boys Varsity Team Scores:
Vista Murrieta 31
Great Oak 37
Murrieta Mesa 93
Chaparral 94
Temecula Valley 142
Murrieta Valley 147
Boys JV
Top finisher from each Temecula school:
Mark Skeans – 1st place (15:57.7); Great Oak
Josh Sierra – 25th place (17:02.4); Chaparral
Troy Schlaline – 78th place (18:35.7); Temecula Valley
Boys JV Team Scores:
Great Oak 19
Vista Murrieta 48
Murrieta Mesa 79
Chaparral 118
Murrieta Valley 148
Temecula Valley 171
Girls JV
Top finisher from each Temecula school:
Alexis Messerly – 1st place (18:16.8); Great Oak
Iliana Escobedo – 29th place (20:51.3); Temecula Valley
Anna Dellamico – 38th place (21:18.6); Chaparral
Girls JV Team Scores:
Great Oak 15
Vista Murrieta 50
Temecula Valley 83
Murrieta Mesa 117
Chaparral 130
Murrieta Valley 151
