The Woodbridge Classic is one of the most anticipated and exhilarating meets of the year, not to mention one of the most competitive. This year, the 37th Annual Woodbridge Classic was held in Norco, California on Saturday evening September 16th, 2017 in prime conditions; it's widely held around the country that Woodbridge is the fastest meet in the nation. The 3-mile course has absolutely no hills and consists entirely of fast close-cropped grass and pavement. Additionally, the meet has the advantage of being held in Southern California, meaning the runners enjoy the benefits of a cool 75-65°F. All of these factors combine to create an exhilarating race experience and a slew of personal records.
DVCC took 38 boys to Woodbridge this year to compete in the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Varsity 'B', and top-billed Sweepstakes races.
Kicking off the evening was the Freshman Boys race, where the DVCC team placed 11th against 31 other teams. The first five of the nine DVCC freshmen who ran were Martin Fuller (16:54.9) in 15th place, Christopher Broze (17:42.1) in 49th place, Vade Pierce (18:26.7) in 110th place, Justin Perillio (18:27.4) in 112th place, and Luke Nagli (18:36.2) in 125th place. These boys performed commendably against an enormous pack of almost 400 of the country’s up-and-coming runners.
In the Sophomore Boys race, the talented DVCC boys placed a solid 3rd place against the deep squads of Great Oak and Saugus High Schools. Heading the Sophomore race for DVCC was Noah Werbelow (16:46.5) in 18th place, followed by Mays Jones just a split-second behind (16:46.7) in 19th place, Nicolo Perciballi (16:56.7) in 35th place, Vincent Larente (17:08.1) in 53rd place, Lucas Young (17:21.2) in 70th place, and Adam Hansen (17:38.1) in 88th place.
The DVCC Junior Boys placed 3rd in an incredibly tight competition to Great Oak’s 2nd place team; DVCC finished with 99 points, just a mere 1 point behind Great Oak’s 98! This adept crew of juniors was lead by Neal Saxena (16:29.7) in 17th place, followed by Carter Sokolovich (16:31.5) in 18th place, Marshall Smith (16:44.8) in 24th place, Ceth Reeves (16:45.3) in 25th place, and David Syms (17:08.0) in 53rd place.
The Varsity 'B' race saw the team of 7 runners finish in a strong 4th place, with 141 points. This team was led by an astounding breakthrough performance by sophomore Sammy Van Alstine, who won the hotly-contested race with a blistering 14:45.7 time. This is easily the DVCC record for the Sophomore 3-mile and is one of the top-five 3-mile times ever run by a Desert Vista athlete. Following behind Sammy was junior Lee Nasewytewa (15:18.6) in 7th place, junior Travis Kearney (15:37.8) in 20th place, Senior Michael Tuli (15:55.6) in 38th place, and senior Jack Willems (16:21.1) in 75th place. The top seven was rounded off with senior Grant Cuyler (16:38.7) in 94th place, and senior David Neighbors (17:01.7) in 112th place.
The evening was finished off with the DVCC Varsity making its season debut in the premier Sweepstakes race. The results of this race forebode a prodigious season for the Thunder, as DVCC finished in 2nd place against Great Oak, arguably the best team in the nation. Finishing with 118 points to Great Oak’s 83 (and only a 2-second difference in average mile pace), DVCC showed it has the guts and the fitness to compete with ANY other team in the nation. This was not only the best Woodbridge performance of any Desert Vista team, this was the best 3-mile performance of any team in the history of Arizona.
The DVCC Varsity squad of all seniors was led off by Reece Donihi who set a new DVCC 3-mile record of 14:28.7, which earned him a 12th place finish. He was followed by Aksel Laudon (14:35.9) in 22nd place, Habs Cheney (14:45.4) in 34th place, D’Angelo Piasecki (14:50.5) in 44th place, and Bryce Schmisseur (14:54.5) in 57th place. Behind these top five runners were Nick Thatcher (14:56.5) in 62nd place and J Iannone (15:40.5) in 133rd place.
Overall, the trip to Woodbridge was a great success and a show of the dedication and depth of the DVCC team. This night of extraordinary achievements from DVCC runners is only a precursor of the unreached potential of the Desert Vista Thunder.
A resounding show of gratitude is owed to DVCC Boosters, who generously provided for much of this trip’s expenses. Thanks to the dedicated Coaches for all their time and effort in mentoring our team, and thank you to all the parents for your selfless support and commitment.
The next meet will be the Doug Conley Invitational at Shalimar Golf Club on September 23rd.
GO THUNDER!!