JERSEY - El Dorado’s boys cross country team claimed first place Saturday in the Moro Bay Invitational. Parkers Chapel’s Jana Avery claimed individual first place honors in the senior girls division.
The Wildcats scored 29 points to finish first out of six teams. Monticello was second and Choudrant took third.
El Dorado was led by Alexander Jimenez, who finished fourth with a time of 17:51 over the three-mile course. Brooks Coan was sixth with a time of 18:00. JD Halstead was seventh with 18:20. Ruben Berrequin was ninth with a time of 18:35. Hayden McDiarmid was 12th with 19:17. Collin Taylor (20:14), Ian Hernandez (21:21), and Braden Griffin (21:29) rounded out the Wildcats.
“I was proud of the team as a whole. We came into this meet knowing that we would have a good chance to win if the guys ran what they were capable of running,” said El Dorado coach John Koonce. “We actually held back three runners due to minor aches and pains, including our usual number two runner, Jadon Cunningham, but the rest of the guys stepped up and had great runs. Brooks Coan had an outstanding week of practice and it translated to the best run he has had all year. I think the kids are primed to finish the year off on a high note with conference and state coming up the next two weeks.”
Michael Brotherton led PC’s boys with a time of 19:32 followed by T.K. Killingsworth (20:08), Korbin McAuliffe (21:06), Thomas Hardy (21:24) and Brendan Winchester (21:47).
Avery was the overall winner in the senior girls division. The sophomore won in a time of 20:21. Her freshman teammate, Ali Looney, finished fifth overall with a time of 21:23. Halley Evers (31:06) and Hannah Barbaree (31:45) rounded out the Lady Trojans.
“Jana Avery and Ali Looney are both excellent examples of what true competitors should look like,” said Parkers Chapel coach Justin Welch. “They both work so hard to improve each and every week. As a coach, that’s exactly what you want to have on your team, and you also want to see all of their hard work pay off for them. Today it showed, and the results speak for themselves.”
El Dorado’s Sally Senn inished sixth overall with a time of 21:30.
“Sally always gets out there and gives it her all, so it was good to see her get into the top 10 in the last race before conference and state,” said Koonce.
In junior high, El Dorado’s boys finished third in their final race of the year. El Dorado’s Addy Taylor finished seventh overall in the junior high girls.
“This was the junior high’s last race of the year,” said Koonce. “All of the kids on the junior high team are brand new to this sport and I am very pleased with the amount of progress that they have shown in the short time that they have been out here. They will get a few weeks off and then go straight into offseason training and they are all very excited to get into that.”
Parkers Chapel’s Christian Cortez finished 10th overall in junior high boys with a time of 13:47. Clay Evers (15:10) and Patrick Copes (16:49) also competed for the Trojans. PC’s junior girls were led by Madison Sullivan, who was 12th with a time of 17:33. Maddie Wylie (20:43), Rebekah Hardy (20:48) and Lexi Killingsworth (20:50) rounded out the Lady Trojans.
“I’m very proud of all of my runners for coming out and competing today. I had several individuals who stood out,” said Welch. “I also had a couple junior high runners that had efforts that I like to see. Christian Cortez and Madison Sulivan both had very solid performances.”