The rookie and the veteran started and finished the same way in the first Channel League cross country meet at Dos Pueblos on Wednesday.
In wire-to-wire performances, sophomore Addi Zerrenner of DP won the girls race in her league debut and Charger junior Bryan Fernandez captured the boys individual title.
Both runners clearly were the class of the varsity races on their home course.
Addi Zerrenner of Dos Pueblos won in her Channel League debut. (Vince Agapito photo)
Zerrenner’s impressive outing, however, was almost ruined by a rookie mistake. She bolted off the starting line at the north end zone of Scott O’Leary Stadium and charged down the football field ahead of the pack. As she reached the south end zone, she inadvertently ran on the wrong side of a course marker before going on to the track and proceeding to the lower athletic field.
“It was my plan to go out fast, but it wasn’t my plan to go off course,” said Zerrenner.
Zerrenner was forgiven for the faux pax by the league’s coaches and declared the victor. And, she learned a valuable lesson, said her coach.
“It happens,” DP coach Leslie Roth said of the mistake. “I talked to her afterwards and told her to keep her head high, and we’ve got to learn from every race. And what we learned from this race was that she’s got to get out and know the course, especially if she’s going to be a leader like that.
“I know she learned a big lesson today that will better prepare her for future races,” Roth added.
Zerrenner covered the 3-mile course in 17:43.92 for her third straight win of the season. Second place went to Ventura’s Hannah Kirkegaard in 18:14.41.
The Cougars showed great team balance, placing five runners in the top 10 (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 9th) to easily win the team competition with 24 points.
San Marcos gave a strong performance, putting six runners in the top 20 to finish second with 49 points. Buena (66) was third followed by DP (77) and Santa Barbara (135).
“They had a great day,” San Marcos coach Lawrence Stehmeier said of his girls, who were fighting illness and injury.
Rocio Pacheco led the Royals’ scoring runners with a fifth-place finish in 18:44.61. Kaitlyn Kuehn came in seventh (19:18.27) followed by Iulia Roman (10th, 19:38.18), Annie Thwing (12th, 20:02.68), Jewel Fisher (15th, 20:10.24) and Krista Bowdle (18th, 20:14.31).
Despite not being 100 percent, Fernandez looked strong in boys race. He won in 15:17.89.
Bryan Fernandez of DP went wire-to-wire in the boys race.
“I’m pretty happy with that,” he said. “I’m still pretty sore from Woodbridge on Saturday and I was kind of sick all week, so I just wanted to go out there and beat down on the Ventura guys for the first two miles so I wouldn’t have to push it at the end.”
Fernandez cruised to the finish line, beating second-place Ian Roberts of Ventura (15:24.97) by just over 17 seconds.
“I thought Bryan ran extremely well,” coach Len Miller said. “Actually, Bryan hasn’t been feeling well since last Friday. He ran sick at Woodbridge and I don’t think he was 100 percent today But he has established himself as one of the elite runners in the state.”
The Cougars nabbed third and fourth and eight through 10 spots en route to 26 points and the team title. Dos Pueblos was second with 37 points followed by Santa Barbara (92), San Marcos (102) and Buena (126).
Junior James Scheuermann turned in good performance for Santa Barbara, finishing fifth in 15:35.21.
“He took his lumps as a freshman and sophomore, but he had a huge summer and a nice track season,” coach Olivia Perdices said. “This was a huge race for him. He’s put in a lot of work and it’s showing.”
Ben York of DP ran a course personal best of 15:43.26, improving his time by 35 seconds. He finished sixth and teammate Max Davis came in seventh in 16:04.41. The other DP scoring runners were Tyler Bradford (11th, 16:17.85), Cole Smith (12th, 16:19.58) and Dylan Zukin (16:21.19).
“Ben York had a phenomenal race,” Miller said. “Ben York has had three good races in a row this year. If we can be healthy by the end of the year, our goal is to go back to the state meet and do better than we did last year (10th place). If we’re healthy, we can achieve that goal.”
In the JV races, Ventura dominated the girls race, taking the top five spots en route to 15 points. Emma Huebner was the winner in 20:12.73. DP’s Andrew McGuan was the individual boys race winner in 16:29 and Ventura won the team title with 25 points.
