Sonoma Valley cross country teams split meet with Justin-Sienna

It was a hot afternoon at Maxwell Farms Regional Park on Wednesday, Sept. 11, hot enough that one of Sonoma Valley top girls’ competitors, Annabelle Hunter, dropped out with breathing problems. Her absence may have cost the Lady Dragons squad the match, as they lost by only 5 points, 26-31.

The boys fared better, with the varsity narrowly winning by a point, 27-28, while the JV boys took the first six places.

All teams ran the same 2.75-mile course at Maxwell Farms, on a day when afternoon temperatures approached 90 degrees.

The Justin-Siena team was the only one of the six other VVAL teams to show up for the meet on Sonoma Valley’s home course.

The day’s first race saw the girls take off at about 4 p.m., with Justin’s Olivia Janerico and Lauren Aubert finishing first and second, respectively.

Top Sonoma finisher was Emma Brophy, her 20:49 time just 19 seconds behind Janerico’s winning 20:30.

Nearly two minutes elapsed between those three top finishers and Charlotte Hunter, of SVHS, who came in fourth at 22:26.

The boys race likewise saw the top two spots won by Braves, Jacob Guiducci (16:24) and Casey Potrebic (17:17), though the Dragons swept the third through sixth places, with Dylan Cusick topping the team with a 17:23 time. Nate Jordan and Mason Philips had a virtual tie for fourth with a 17:36 time, with Ryan Herngehold not far behind at 17:38.

“Overall, the kids ran well today, especially in some warm weather,” said coach John Litzenberg. “Virtually everyone who ran and finished today improved their time substantially compared to last week.”

The team’s next event is the NBL Interlock 1, at Spring Lake, on Wednesday, Sept. 18. They won’t run in another meet at Maxwell until Oct. 2, in the first VVAL Center meet.