Sushchikh, San Marcos girls turn wheels to titles

Sergey Sushchikh and the San Marcos girls cross country team had unbeatable days at the Santa Barbara County Cross Country Championship on Friday, claiming titles with spectacular runs.

Katelyn Rheinschild led the Royals girls to their first County title since 2006 by slashing her personal best time by 30 seconds to 19:13 and finishing second overall.

“They went out and ran just a super race,” said Royals head coach Lawrence Stehmeier.

Sushchikh became a two-time champion thanks to his time 15:01, which was 30 seconds better than his winning time last year. Bryan Fernandez turned in a strong performance for DP in fourth, as did Max Davis in sixth.

It wasn’t enough to unseat Cabrillo, which won the boys team title.

Santa Barbara High’s Briggs Deardorff placed third in the boys race.