Six Warrior girls medal at Laguna Hills Invitational

Six Fallbrook High School girls earned medals for finishing among the top 40 in their races at the Laguna Hills Invitational cross-country meet Sept. 10.

Fallbrook head coach Troy Hamlin and his assistant coaches had 27 girls in the four grade-level races, and 19 of those 27 runners had times under 25 minutes on the meet's 3-mile course.

œIt was a very good showing, Hamlin said. œIt was a learning experience for many of them.

Fallbrook was one of three San Diego Section schools to participate in the Laguna Hills meet, joining Poway and Vista.

œMostly Laguna Hills is a Southern Section meet, Hamlin said. œIt's a good meet, and it's a really good competitive situation.

Fallbrook's only freshman medalist was Emma Workman, who had a time of 22:15 to place 40th among the 166 girls in the freshman Division I race. œIt's a pretty tough course. There are two pretty good size hills on it, Hamlin said. œIt finishes on a very tough hill.

Six freshmen ran for Fallbrook. Alex Beckett finished 55th with a time of 23:11; Kiera Donoghue took 80th place at 24:19; Tori Riddle was the 84th finisher after completing the course in 24:27; Alexi Eich earned 86th place by taking 24:30 minutes, and Chelsea Borg's first cross-country race produced a time of 27:20 and a 140th-place finish.

Sophomore Rosanne Lopez ran track but not cross-country as a freshman, and she finished her first high school cross-country race 19:54 minutes after the starting gun was fired. Lopez's time gave her 17th place in the sophomore race while matching senior Nicole Bell for Fallbrook's fastest time of the day. œIt was quite a debut, Hamlin said.

The Laguna Hills Invitational starts on the school's football field and makes a hard right approximately 120 yards from the start. That cuts off many of the runners who didn't get a fast start, and Lopez experienced that first-hand. Lopez had a first-mile time of 6:36 and wasn't among the top 40 after that portion of the race.

œShe was way back at the mile, Hamlin said.

Lopez gradually gained positions while maintaining her pace. œShe's got a huge potential, Hamlin said.

Haley McCaffrey was Fallbrook's other sophomore medalist, placing 30th with a time of 20:35. The performance was a 3:47 improvement over her 2010 time at the Laguna Hills Invitational. œThe training she's done over the summer and first part of the season is really showing, Hamlin said.

The sophomore race consisted of 182 girls, including 10 from Fallbrook. Hannah Valasquez placed 68th with a time of 22:11. Michelle Madden had a time of 22:22 to take 79th place. Angela DiMercurio was the 103rd finisher at 23:24, which was 4:27 better than her 2010 time and gave her the greatest improvement of any Warrior runner at the meet. Haylee Jameson completed the course in 23:35 to finish 108th.

All six of Fallbrook's juniors broke 25 minutes with Ciera Villegas earning a medal after a 14th-place finish which took 20:03. The 126-girl junior race saw Danica Hooper take 78th place at 23:20; Selina Eich earn 80th place with a time of 23:30; Rachel Jones finish with an 81st-place time of 23:33; Shavonne Donoghue placed 87th at 23:57, and Diana Hernandez make her cross-country debut with a 91st-place time of 24:34.

Bell's performance of 19:54 in the senior race placed 16th among the competition's 85 runners. œNicole wasn't feeling well and she wasn't sure she was even going to run, Hamlin said.

Hamlin advised Bell to warm up and make her decision, and Bell went to the starting line. She completed the first mile in 6:12. œ6:12 is a very fast time, Hamlin said. œShe held onto it as best as she could.

The time was a 32-second course personal record for Bell, who took 22:02 in 2009 and 20:26 as a junior. œIt was a good opening season performance for Nicole, Hamlin said.

Shara Leehey also medaled in the senior race, placing 21st after a time of 20:24. œShe was just strong from beginning to end, Hamlin said.

Leehey had a first-mile time of 6:39. œShe's in very good shape, Hamlin said. Leehey's time was a course personal record by 57 seconds. She had times of 22:55 as a freshman, 22:29 while in 10th grade, and 21:21 last year.

Rianna Alcantara, the third of Fallbrook's five seniors across the finish line, had a time of 23:44, which placed 60th and was a course personal record by 47 seconds. œOur seniors are doing quite well, Hamlin said.

Junior Alexis Lopez missed the meet and, even without Lopez, Fallbrook's top five runners had a split of 41 seconds. œThat's a pretty good pack right there, Hamlin said. œIt was a great start to the season.

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