Sophomore Leah Slagter of Arrowhead Christian Academy outran 114 runners to the finish of the Division 5 Varsity Green 3-mile run on Friday at the Mt. San Antonio College High School Cross-Country Invitational.
It was the second straight win for Slagter who finished first at the Small Schools League cluster meet No. 2 on Oct. 14 at Lake Perris. Slagter was timed in 19:36.4 over the hilly Mt. SAC course, helping her team to a third-place finish, just six seconds behind the winner Santa Fe Christian.
Slagter finished three minutes ahead of ACA’s No. 2 runner, Madelyn Arjonilla, who was timed in 22:42.5, good for 19th place. Grace Price, a freshman, was 21st in 23:05.6. Eva Marquez and Peyton Wolfe filled out the top five ACA finishes to earn a team total of 98 points.
“I was expecting more people to come on strong earlier in the race,” Slagter said in a post-race interview with Youth Runner Magazine. “I was just glad I could maintain my speed. I was getting tired over the last 300 meters.”
Next up is the Small Schools League Championship on Tuesday, Nov. 4. That event will include runners from Redlands Adventist Academy and Packinghouse Christian of Redlands as well as ACA.
Redlands Unified teams fare well at Mt. SAC
Junior Hudson Glassmire led Redlands High to a runner-up finish Saturday in the boys Blue Division 2 3-mile run at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational’s hilly 3-mile course.
Glassmire finished 15th out of 109 runners in 17:10.8, four spots ahead of teammate Calvin Osborn (17:29.9) while Roland Smith was 21st in 17:33.9 followed by Shivam Patel in 17:37.6. Aaron Ingham was the fifth RHS runner to finish, taking 32nd spot in 18:25.2.
The Terriers’ 109 points were well back of the winning team, Clovis West’s 31 points.
Meanwhile, Citrus Valley’s boys team took fourth in the D2 varsity red race, led by junior Evan Rout’s ninth-place finish out of 108 runners, timed in 16:56.8, the best among the two Redlands district teams. CVHS accumulated 141 points with all five runners in the top 50.
Aiding the Blackhawks cause were Jaden Jacob, 17th in 17:29.9; Ryan Schafer, 25th in 17:46.6; Jesus Saldana, 40th in 18:20.1 and Adriel Kipkoech, 50th in 18:44.8.
In Division 2 girls’ action, Citrus Valley’s promising freshman Allyssa Castaneda continued her solid running with a fourth-place finish in the 3.1 mile course in 19:50.0. CVHS wound up in sixth place out of 15 teams in the D-2 Yellow Varsity race.
Trailing Castaneda to the finish were Suheily Chavez, 26th in 21:31.8; Abigail Lopez, 28th in 21:48.3; Isabelle Castaneda, 39th in 22:18.1 and Kirsten Speaks, 55th in 23:14.9. There were 116 runners in the race.
Up next for CVHS and RHS is the Citrus Belt League finals on Nov. 1 at Yucaipa Community Park. The CIF prelims are set for Nov. 14-15 and the finals on Nov. 22, all on the course these teams just competed this weekend.
