Jacob Heller, left, and Jacob Crossman run for Carson High.
The Carson High boys cross country team finished 23rd on Saturday in the large schools division at the 40th annual Asics Clovis (Calif.) Invitational at Woodward Park.
All of Carson’s runners posted personal best times on the 3.1-mile course. Woodward Park serves as the site for the California State Championships in November
“The kids keep getting better each week and they’re excited about that,” coach Pete Sinnott said.
Carson’s Hunter Rauh placed 27th in an outstanding time of a personal best 16:18 and Zachary Sever was right behind in 33rd in a personal best 16:24. Rauh’s time was his fastest by 21 seconds and ranks as the fourth fastest among Northern 4A runners so far this season. Sever improved by 15 seconds and now has the North’s fifth fastest time.
“Our boys had an average first mile of 5:12 and moved from 24th as a team to 20th over the last mile,” Sinnott pointed out. “Hunter improved from 46th at the mile in 5:02 to 27 at the finish. Zach went from 51 at the mile in 5:03 to 34 overall.”
Another bright spot for the Senators was having their 3-4-5 runners finish within eight seconds of each other, each in personal best times. Sophomore Walker MacKenzie ran 17:38 (an improvement of 12 seconds) and Adan Garcia ran 17:43 (an improvement of 16 seconds). With Carson’s third best runner, Ethan Byassee, taking ACTs and Mark Ramirez sick, sophomore Jakob Heller Carson’s top junior varsity runner ran an outstanding 17:46 (an improvement of 75 seconds). That was the biggest improvement of the day for Carson.
Jacob Crossman ran 18:23 (an improvement of 25 seconds) and sophomore Gabe Crossman, also a JV moving up ran 19:05 (an improvement of 45 seconds) to complete the team’s top seven. In all, 223 runners finished the race.
The league boys meet figures to be closely contested between Galena, Damonte Ranch, Douglas and Carson. The Douglas Tigers also had a good day Saturday at Clovis, with a 13th-place showing in the medium schools division with each of their seven runners under 18 minutes,
Meanwhile Carson’s girls finished 30th in the large schools race. Hannah Kaiser led the way as she placed 61st in 20:23. Claire Cartier ran 23:47 (an improvement of 17 seconds), Kaitlin Schulze 23:48, Ginger Cullom 25:16, Hailey Ponszach 25:20, Ella Wick 25:45 and Erin Cartier 25:47.
Notes … Carson’s boys ran at 8:05 and the girls at 7:15 a.m. … Among the featured programs in the meet was Great Oak (Temecula), which has won six straight California state titles in the girls division and four straight in the boys division.
Sierra Lutheran runners strong
Jared Marchegger and Teagan Hansen paced the Sierra Lutheran boys cross country team at the Winnemucca Invitational on Friday.
Marchegger was second in 15:56 (second best time of the season) at the 4,400 foot elevation course at the Winnemucca Golf Course. Hansen was third with a time of 16:32 (personal record).
Other finishers: Andreas Gilson 25th with a time of 19:01 (second best time of the season); Jacob Tack 32nd with a time of 19:45 (personal record); Aaron Waite 42nd with a time of 20:45 (personal record) and William Webster 44th with a time of 21:51 (personal record).
“We choose to run the boys all together in the varsity race to help prepare them for Regionals. This gave them an opportunity to run together as a team and they all did well,” said coach Steven Kubel.
Emily McNeely was the only girl from Sierra Lutheran to run this race. She finished sixth with a time of 20:20 (second best time of the season).
The weather cooperated by waiting to start raining until the finish of the girls varsity race.
Falcons sweep Excel
The Sierra Lutheran volleyball team swept Excel Christian in Sparks on Saturday.
The Falcons won 25-17, 25-18 and 25-7.
Sophomore Annalynn Mueller led the team with six aces. Junior Lauren Rowlette added three. Senior Charis Wheeler had three aces, five attacks and three kills. Senior Amanda Almeida had eight attacks and two kills, a block, and two aces. Junior Katie Boogman had four attacks and two kills, two blocks and an ace.
“We played 65 percent of the game with our underclassmen and I could not be happier with their performance. Their growth amazes me,” said coach Naomi DiMartino.
Sierra Lutheran pulls off comeback
Down 28-9 at halftime, the Sierra Lutheran football team rallied for a 35-28 victory over Excel Christian on Saturday.
“I am immensely proud of how our boys fought for (the) victory,” said assistant coach Brandon Neal. “We were down 28-9 at the half, but they didn’t let it stop them. I asked the players to strive for perfection in the second half and they went above and beyond that. Each player at the end of that game was able to look at each other and know that they gave it their all.”
Douglas defeats Carson in girls soccer
Douglas topped the Carson High girls soccer team 1-0 on Saturday.
Jessee Cabrera scored the only goal in the 21st minute as Douglas controlled possession.
In JV action, Douglas remained undefeated with a 3-0 win over Carson.