Cate, Bishop Diego and Carpinteria went toe-to-toe-to-toe on the Carpinteria Bluffs in a three-way cross-country meet on Tuesday, with Cate winning the girls race behind standout Mackenzie Walsh and the Bishop boys winning their first-ever meet in coach Ray Vazquez’s five years.
Walsh, who won the race last year as well, finished with a time of 21:18 on the 3-mile course, while Bishop’s Christie Delgadillo came in second at 21:34. In last year’s race, Delgadillo got lost on the course, so she and Vazquez jogged it before things got going Tuesday.
Sophomore Elias Munoz led the Cardinal boys with a second-place time of 18:43. Teammate Ted Sleep was next in 18:54 and Trent Speier was fourth in 19:00.
Vazquez also praised freshman Andre Enriquez, who had to dig deep in his first-ever cross-country race but found some extra energy to make a final push.
Cate coach Karl Weis pointed out that the No. 8 finisher on his boys team clocked in with a time that would have been tops on the squad last year, showing the Rams’ vast improvement. the Cate boys were led by senior co-captain Joe Gottwald, who finished fifth in the race, crossing the line more than two minutes better than his best time last year at 19:14.
TEAM RESULTS
Girls: Cate 26, Carpinteria 40, Bishop Diego 72.
Boys: Bishop Diego 37, Cate 41, Carpinteria 50.
