Sergey Sushchikh posted the fifth fastest time overall, leading the Dos Pueblos boys cross country team to the CIF-Southern Section Finals.
Sushchikh ran the hilly 3-mile course at Mount San Antonio College in 15 minutes, 11 seconds to finish second in his Division 2 heat at Saturday’s CIF Prelims. The heat winner was Loyola’s Elias Gedyon, who posted the best time of all divisions, a blistering 14:43.
Dos Pueblos placed third as a team in its heat with 77 points. Loyola (39) finished first and Ventura (57) second. The Chargers got a strong performance from sophomore Bryan Fernandez. He finished ahead of Ventura’s Easton Tackett to place fifth in 15:34, a personal best on the course. His time was the third fastest by a sophomore in the division and the 30th best overall.
The other Charger scorers were Max Davis (18th, 15:59), Alfred Scott (26th, 16:16) and Sam Sarmiento (31st, 16:21). Jacob Bartholomew (34th, 16:27) and Ben York (37th, 16:30) rounded out the squad.
DP coach Leslie Roth was impressed with her team’s performance.
“Running this fast at this point in the season is incredibly difficult, and to see them working together as a team is really remarkable,” she said. “It is one thing to have one individual (Sergey) run so well, but to have seven guys run really well? It is a rare occurrence and one that we are really proud of, and coach Len Miller certainly deserves credit for getting the boys to where they are currently running.”
Roth believes this is the first time a DP boys team has reached the finals since the days when Gordon McClenathan was coaching at the school.
Also in Division 2, Santa Barbara’s Briggs Deardorff qualified for next Saturday’s CIF-SS Finals as an individual. He finished third in his race in 15:35, the 32nd fastest overall time.
Erin Campbell of DP ran a personal record of 20:03 to place 25th in her Division 2 girls race and did not qualify for the finals. Roth noted that Campbell’s time made her the fastest finisher at CIF Prelims for DP since 2001.
In Division 3, the San Marcos girls finished eighth as a team and did not qualify for the finals. The Royals’ top finisher was sophomore Rocio Pacheco in 24th place with a time of 20:17. The other Royals finishers were Kateyln Rheinschild (29th, 20:26), Kaitlyn Kuehn (34th, 20:36), Jewel Fisher (20:56), Annie Thwing (63, 21:30) and McKenzie Funk (71st, 21:48).
Carpinteria’s boys placed 14th in Division 4. Ricardo Arroyo (97th, 19:56) and David Cornejo (98th, 19:56) were the Warriors’ top finishers.
The Cate girls team qualified for the finals by finishing a strong third in their Division 5 heat. Charlotte Bowles paced the Rams with a ninth-place finish in 21:15
Fellow junior Adrian Walsh finished 14th in 22:01, followed by Kate Groetzinger in 21st (22:33), and Denali Tietjen in 25th (22:39). Freshman Luisa Ilvento rounded out the Cate scoring by placing 29th in 22:49.
Cate’s boys team finished its season by placing ninth in its heat. The Rams were led by senior Spencer McAvoy, who closed out his stellar career with a personal best of 18:00 for 29th place.
Laguna Blanca’s Marla Bonner advanced as an individual in Division 5. She finished fifth in her heat in 20:33.
For the boys, Parker Lilly took eighth in his D-5 heat with a time of 17:04 and qualified for next week’s finals. The Owls placed eighth as a team and missed qualifying.
