Cross country tournament at Maxwell Park for Vine Valley league

A late September hot spell washed over Maxwell Farms Regional Park this week, challenging hundreds of high school cross country runners from all seven schools in the Vine Valley Athletic League at the VVAL Center meet on Wednesday, Sept. 26.

“It was pretty hot out today, which seemed to make it difficult for many of the runners, but the winning times for all of the races were pretty impressive,” said John Litzenberg, the SVHS XC coach. “This was the first time we’ve had more than four schools at our home course for a meet, and there were some challenges,” he said, especially with the large JV Boys race with 82 competitors.

Casa Grande’s team swept the meet, with strong showings from Vintage and Napa high schools. The Sonoma Valley squad competed in all classes, though with only two runners in the girls JV the team did not place. Nonetheless, Litzenberg was supportive of his team, noting that “We did have a number of seasonal and/or personal bests on the Maxwell course today.”

The event got underway at about 3:45, with the JV Girls race, the first official VVAL Cross Country race ever. Top finisher was Kayla Tavakoli of Vintage, at 20:50 for the 2.73-mile track. Top Dragon finisher was Carmen Carrillo, at 26:07, with Jenna Randuch not far behind at 26:27.

The next race was the big JV Boys field, and Matthew Giroux of Casa Grande was far ahead of the second-place finisher, with a 16:30 time. Top Dragon runner was Chris Berger at 19:20, in 14th place.

The girls varsity race followed, and the Dragon duo of Emma Brophy and Malia Cashel finished almost together at 20:53 – a bit behind the winning time in the race of 16:45, from Vintage racer M. Delik.

It was after 5 p.m. when the Boys varsity race finally got underway, and the weather had begun to cool down. Erik Guzman of Vintage came in first with a time of 14:38. Top Dragon finishers were Justin Cox at 16:29 and Nate Jordan at 17:15.

“Casa Grande and Vintage have some really strong varsity teams, and will be tough to beat all season,” said Litzenberg. He, along with many of the school’s cross-country team, will compete in Sunday’s Vintage Run Fundraiser starting at the Plaza, part of the city’s annual Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival.