The Dos Pueblos boys and girls cross country teams along with San Marcos runners Adilene Aldapa and Erica Schroeder qualified for the CIF-Southern Section Finals at Saturday’s Prelims at Mt.San Antonio College.
Aldapa placed fifth and Schroeder sixth in their Division 3 heat race. The San Jose State-bound Aldapa ran the hilly 3-mile course in 18 minutes, 26 seconds. Schroeder, a sophomore, was timed in 18:43. The heat winner was Kim Coscia of South Torrance in 17:34.
The San Marcos girls team missed qualifying for next week’s finals. The Royals finished in seventh place in Heat 2 with 173 points.
The Dos Pueblos girls placed fifth in their heat to book a spot in the D-3 Finals. The Chargers had 116 points. Sophomore Christina Rice led the way with a 10th place finish in 18:56. Senior Elaine McClure was the second runner in 13th place with a time of 19:10. The other DP scorers were sophomore Natalie McClure (25th, 20:03), senior Tatiana Schluep (38th, 20:34) and sophomore Joanna Zukin (48th, 21:02).
Coach Kyle Visin said Rice ran 49 seconds faster than her previous race on the Mt. SAC course. Zukin also set a course PR by over a minute.
The Wasjutin twins, Chris and Ian, were the top two finishers for the DP boys, who placed fifth in their heat with 159 points. Chris Wasjutin finished 22nd place in 16:11 and Ian Wasjutin came in 32nd in 16:30. Both are seniors. Junior Nathan Alvarez and freshman Joshua McGregor placed in the top 40 in the heat. Alvarez was 35th in 16:34 and McGregor came in 37th in 16:35. Sophomore Hunter Clark came in 43rd in 16:40.
Sixth runner Paul “Graham” Wren broke a fifth-place tie with Baldwin Park. His 58th place bested Baldwin Park’s sixth runner, who came in 67th.
In Division 4, the Santa Ynez, Cabrillo and Lompoc boys all qualified for the finals.
