Local high school sports, paused since last March by the COVID-19 pandemic, got back on course last weekend with three dual meets in cross country.
It was a new day for Santa Barbara High freshman Blaise Snow, who finished first in a dual meet at Dos Pueblos. He finished the three-mile course in 16:36 to lead the Dons to an 18-27 victory. Teammate Drew DeLozier finished second, followed by Dos Pueblos’ Luci Koroshec and Dylan Richardson.
DP won the girls meet, 22-32, behind the first-place finish of senior Ella Kenly in a time of 19:57. Santa Barbara High sophomore Daisy McToldridge took second place.
In Saturday’s other Channel League meet, Cabrillo High’s boys defeated Santa Ynez 20-39 behind the 1-2-3 finish of Jacob Hinshaw (16:58.52), Tyler Johnson (17:13.49), and Kaden Jones (17:16.74). Santa Ynez took the next two spots with Joey Linane (17:48.61) and Carson Gann (18:27.67).
Cabrillo also took the first two places in the girls meet. Kassandra Navarro won the race in 25:19.42 while Gabriella Nelson took second in 25:15.92. Santa Ynez took the next two places with Sofia Monsalud (26:04.92) and Victoria Bernard (26:27.67).
Channel League competition will resume on Saturday, with Santa Barbara running against San Marcos on the DP course at 10 a.m. and Santa Ynez competing against Lompoc.
Carpinteria hit the ground running after receiving “an 11th-hour call” from the Ventura County Public Health Department that it was cleared to travel across county lines to compete in a Citrus Coast League meet in Fillmore.
The Warriors had already missed the league’s first meet in Ojai because of COVID-19 restrictions. The Citrus League’s other members — Fillmore, Santa Paula, Nordhoff and Hueneme — are all located in Ventura County.
Carpinteria High athletic director texted cross country coach Angel Silva on Saturday morning immediately after receiving Ventura County approval to compete in the meet. Silva was assisting as a race monitor at the meet.
“It was a great team effort once we got the go-ahead to participate in the meet,” Silva said. “Principal Gerardo Cornejo communicated with Fillmore Unified District administration, secured safe transportation and drove a van to the meet.”
Cooney communicated with Fillmore meet director Kim Tofoya and arranged for the Warriors to run in the last scheduled race spot at 1:50 p.m. Each school’s team ran the meet separately.
“Due to the short notice, we were only able to bring a handful of student-athletes to the meet,” Silva said.
Kate Cooney led Carpinteria’s top girls, placing eighth in 26:10 over three miles. The Warriors’ Eduardo Vences finished 10th in the boys’ race with a time of 20:16 while Hugo Alvarado came in 15th in 21:29.
“It was just great to see all the student-athletes competing and enjoying themselves after almost a full year away from competition,” Silva said.
The final Citrus Coast League meet will be held on Saturday at Hueneme High.
email: mpatton@newspress.com
