Temecula Cross Country Runners Advance to CIF Competition

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.

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.

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 – 1^st place (15:57.7); Great Oak

Josh Sierra – 25^th place (17:02.4); Chaparral

Troy Schlaline – 78^th 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 – 1^st place (18:16.8); Great Oak

Iliana Escobedo – 29^th place (20:51.3); Temecula Valley

Anna Dellamico – 38^th 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