Coronado girls outrun field at Foothill Invitational

Coronado’s girls cross country team came awfully close to making the end of the Foothill Invitational junior-senior race look like a parade Saturday.

The Cougars had five of the top seven finishers to post a team score of 21 and easily outdistance the field on a 3.1-mile course. Green Valley was the next closest with 65 points.

Other winners on the day were Desert Oasis in the girls freshmen-sophomore race, Green Valley in the boys freshmen-sophomore race, and Santee (Calif.) in the boys junior-senior event.

Coronado’s Sara Dort took the girls junior-senior race, winning in 19 minutes, 46.6 seconds.

Teammate Kristen Morrill was second in 20:02.4, followed by Santee’s Helen Vaquero in 20:22.7 and Boulder City’s Jessica Tobler in 20:31.4.

Cougar runners took the next three spots with Logan Lucas (20:41.3), Taylor Lauten (20:53.7) and Katie Monaco (20:56.5) rounding out Coronado’s scoring.

The Gators, led by Lindy Eskin’s eighth-place finish in 21:02 were second. Foothill, paced by a ninth-place effort from Alyse Vanek (21:07) took third with 90 points.

Desert Oasis’ Brooke Locey posted the second-best girls time of the day and won the freshmen-sophomore race in 19:56.9. Faith Lutheran’s Hannah Pavolv was second in 20:25, followed by

Foothill’s Airyanna Medina in 21:09 and Green Valley’s Jayda Knemeyer in 21:10.

The Diamondbacks, who got a fifth-place finish from Alexandra Myers in 21:20 and a sixth-place effort from Aria Paxton in 21:48, won the event with 34 points. Green Valley was second with 49, followed by Coronado with 65.

Desert Oasis’ Frankie Martinez had the best overall time Saturday, winning the boys junior-senior race in 16:37.7, but Santee placed four runners in the top 13 to nose out Coronado for the top spot.

Santee had a team score of 51, seven points fewer than the Cougars. Green Valley was third with 76.

Foothill’s Brian Marshall challenged Martinez, but settled for second in 16:39.8. Santee’s Edwin Morales was third in 16:45.6, followed by Clark’s Mucuranyana Amon in 16:56 and Coronado’s Alan Ekanger in 17:08.

In the boys freshmen-sophomore race, Green Valley didn’t place a runner in the top six, but used its depth to earn the title. The Gators had 62 points. Coronado was second with 76, followed by Santee at 113.

Coronado’s Colin Schaefer won the race in 17:14. Clark’s Flimon Fre was second in 17:21.2.

Rounding out the top five were Faith Lutheran’s Chase Wood in 17:33.5, Durango’s Juwan Williams in 17:40.3 and Coronado’s Sterling Saltz in 17:44.6.