LODI CROSS COUNTRY SETS THE PACE
Revenge was sweet for the Lodi High boys cross-country team.
Three weeks ago at the Lodi CrossCountry Invitational at Lodi Lake, the host Flames took fifth place while TriCity Athletic League foe St. Mary’s won the race.
Sprint forward to Wednesday afternoon. Under mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s, and back at Lodi Lake, the Flames smoked the Rams in the TCAL’s No. 1 meet. Lodi took first place with 39 points, while St. Mary’s was second at 53 and Lincoln third at 59. Tokay, which is the seven-time defending league champions, crossed the line at sixth with 142 points.
“They had their eyes on those green and white jerseys,” said Lodi coach Greg Wright of his runners facing the Rams. “I was worried about Lincoln, too. In their (Lodi’s) minds, they wanted to redeem themselves.”
Peter Vo took second place for the Lodi boys in the 3.1-mile course that was all of the park’s flatland with a time of 16 minutes, 34 seconds. St. Mary’s Karl Winter was first at 16:16.
“The objective was to try to stay on Karl, and to see if he’s that good,” said Wright, “but Karl was phenomenal. Hats off to Karl. But Peter still ran a great race.”
Taking fourth place for the Flames was Lucas Fonda at 17:21. The Flames had five runners place in the 10th through 20th spots; Bryson Goehring (10th, 17:51), Jesus Santillan (11th, 17:53), Tyler Davis (12th, 17:56), Nicolas Bersi (15th, 18:02) and James Angel (16th, 18:05).
“We’re really proud of the boys,” Wright said. “When race time came, they just went out there and they went after it.”
Placing for Tokay were Alek Francovich, seventh at 17:38, and Cameron Wisely 20th at 18:17.
In the varsity girls’ races, Lodi was also victorious by taking first place over Lincoln; the Flames had 41 points and the Trojans 45. Lodi and Lincoln
combined to take six of the top 10 spots. Tokay, which had one of its runners take a top 10 spot, took fourth place with an even 100 points.
Ruth Hernandez won the race for Lodi at 20:08, and West’s Jasmine Cochiaosue second at 20:19. Racing neck-and-neck were Lodi’s Rachel Maddox and Tokay’s Janette Vazquez. At the finish line, Maddox took sixth at 21:10 and Vazquez, who according to Tokay coach Karey Harty ran with a shoulder spasm, took seventh with the same time, but Maddox won by a half-step.
Taking 10th and 11th place respectively were Lodi’s Maria Hernandez and Yasmin Melendrez at 21:45 and 21:47. Katiana Reedy was 15th for Tokay at 22:29. Lodi’s Jordan Morton and Ivana Juarez rounded out the top 20 with times of 23:04 and 23:14 respectively.