The San Marcos boys won the small schools title at the Ojai Invitational cross country meet on Saturday.
Led by second-place finisher Eric Salas (15:40), the Royals scored 40 points to beat out San Luis Obispo (40), Thacher (66) and Cabrillo (1080.
“it’s nice to get out there and run with schools we’re going to run against in the post-season,” San Marcos coach Lawrence Stehmeier said. “We’re the only Division 3 school in our league. It helps competing against tough competition.”
Following Salas was Ryan Sorensen in third (15:45), Nick Swider in ninth (16:50), Joe Logan in 11th (16:54) and Walker Odell in 15th (17:08).
The San Marcos girls tied Hueneme for first place, but Hueneme was declared the team champion based on the finish of the No. 6 runner.
Adilene Aldapa finished second in the race at 19:02 to pace the Royals. Julianna Logan was 15th (20:41), Jewel Fisher took 16th (20:43), Emily Pearlman was 19th (21:06) and Rachel Tracy placed 45th (22:11).
“The work is paying off,” said Stehmeier. “They’ve been working hard and today we got to see the fruits of their labor.”
