The Desert Vista Cross Country team had a strong showing at one of the nation’s top meets. For the first time in team history, all seven varsity boys finished in less than 16 minutes at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic on Saturday, Sept. 17, in Costa Mesa, Calif. Their combined time of 1:18.06 on the 3.0-mile course at Estancia High School smashed the team record by one minute.
Carter Macey (15:21), Ryan Dykstra (15:26), Ryan Smith (15:42), Jonathan Furseth (15:44), Zach Smith (15:53), Tyler Bonebright (15:56), and Nick Kooinga (15:57) all broke 16 minutes as DVCC finished 16th in the top (sweepstakes) race. More than 300 schools from throughout the West and Southwest, including many of the top 50, competed. Only the Mt. SAC meet, which the varsity will enter next month, draws more high school runners each year.
“This was by far the best finish as a team that DV has ever displayed,” Coach Chris Hanson said. “It was also a team average of over a minute faster than last year on this course. The competition in California is exceedingly tough and this meet certainly showed that!”
DV's depth was on display, finishing fifth, sixth or seventh in each of the Blue (Division-1) class races. Kyle Havriliak (17:04) and Zever McGary led the freshmen to fifth place. Andrew Hermanski (16:08), Jacob Walimaa, Alec Hoyt, and Kyle Herrig finished under 17 minutes to lead the sophs to seventh place. Austin Tielke (16:13), Dylan Smith, Troy Giordano, and Spencer Clason also completed the course in less than 17 minutes to pace the juniors to sixth place. The seniors finished sixth, with four more sub-17-minute times paced by Kevin Estrada (16:05), Ryan Husser, Austin Aguinaga, and Alex Aguinaga. Smiles were the prevalent response as many of the 40 DV runners set personal records.