Casa Grande’s Gauchos continued to write the book on Vine Valley Athletic League cross country running in the league championships they hosted at Spring Lake Park in Santa Rosa last Saturday.
So dominant were the Gauchos that they would have won the league meet against all other VVAL schools combined. Casa Grande placed all five counting runners among the top 10, totaling just 25 points.
Napa, led by individual race winner David Acuna, was second with 45, followed by Vintage (82), Petaluma (107), American Canyon (135), Justin-Siena (137) and Sonoma Valley (164).
Acuna was timed in 16 minutes, 10 seconds over the 3.05-mile course, setting a school record.
The next three runners were all Gauchos, with Nolan Hosbein second in 16:16, Logan Moon third in 16:17 and Luke Baird fourth in 16:21. William Hite, sixth in 16:24, and Jake Dietlin, 10th in 17:00, completed Casa’s championship team. All except senior Moon are juniors.
Casa Grande’s sixth (Aaron Beaube) and seventh (Andrew Gotshall) runners were among the top 20, with Beaube 14th in 17:26 and Gotshall 17th in 17:46.
Petaluma freshman Javier Gutierrez led the Trojans, finishing 15th in 17:42 with teammate Luis Calito Garcia right behind in 16th in 17:45.
Also counting for Petaluma were Ezra Apple, 22th in 18:05; Alex Juarez Aragon, 24th in 18:17; and Brendt Jorgensen, 30th in 18:55.
The dominating victory repeated Casa Grande’s victory in the first year of the VVAL as a league, but last season there was no league championship run because of fire-induced poor air quality. Casa’s league championship was the result of its dominance during center meets.
Casa Grande now moves on to the North Coast Section championship run and a chance for the state meet Saturday at Hayward High School.
Casa Grande’s Emma Baswell broke up Vintage dominance in the girls run, finishing second to the Crushers’ Mary Deeik. Baswell finished in 19:14 behind the winner’s 18:41.
Casa Grande finished second as a team to Vintage. The Crushers scored just 19 points, with all five counting runners among the top 10. Casa Grande scored 66, followed by Petaluma (72), Napa (84) and American Canyon (132).
Baswell was backed for Casa Grande by Kayla Jimenez Carremp, 12th in 22:15; Lisa Wiedenhofer, 13th in 22:23; Alessandra Alvarenga, 14th in 22:26; and Taylor Pieri, 26th in 24.58.
For Petaluma, freshman Eva Tate was eighth in 21:13; Georgiana Morris, 11th in 22:10; Cali Sullivan, 15th in 22:27; Brooklyn Shattuck 17th in 23:26; and Riley Hammack 22nd in 24:15, just ahead of Alexa Pologeorgis, 23rd in 24:28.
Petaluma’s junior varsity boys team was second to a dominating Napa JV team. The Grizzlies totaled just 19 points with Petaluma second with 69 and Casa Grande third with 84.
Casa Grande’s Kiernan Cross, third in 18:02 and Vintage’s Trohy McDonald-Dpxsee, sixth in 18:16 were the only runners to break up Napa’s counting five runners. The Grizzlies’ Jose Garcia was first in 17:41.
Casa Grande’s Matthew Giroux was eighth in 18:27. Petaluma’s Miles Paisley and Joseph Schwappach were ninth and 10th with Paisley timed in 18:45 and Schwappach in 18:47.
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