Froboese earns berth on cross-country all-CIF second team

Fallbrook High School junior Connor Froboese earned a berth on the all-CIF second team for his performance at the CIF San Diego Section cross-country meet Nov. 19 at Morley Field in San Diego.

Froboese had a time of 16:36 on the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) course to place 13th among Division I runners. The top 10 finishers were given berths on the all-CIF first team while the next 10 finishers received second-team status.

“That’s respectable,” Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias said of Froboese’s time. “For a moment there we thought he might be qualified for the state meet.”

The top three Division I teams qualify for the state meet, as do the top five individuals whose teams did not qualify. The final individual qualifier, George Martinez of Sweetwater, had a time of 16:26.

“He was extremely disappointed. His goal was to make the state meet,” Arias said.

The last Fallbrook runner to qualify for the state meet, as well as the first Fallbrook finisher in the 2010 CIF section meet, was Froboese’s brother. Michael Froboese had a time of 16:32 last year and placed seventh. “Connor was not too far off from his time,” Arias said.

A school may enter up to seven runners at the section meet, and Connor Froboese did not compete in the 2010 race which included five Fallbrook seniors. The only Warrior boy who ran both this year and last year was current senior Enrique Rivera, who posted a 23rd-place time of 17:00.

“Enrique didn’t have his best race,” Arias said. Rivera completed the 2010 race, which was run under muddier conditions, in 17:49 to finish 52nd. “He’s never raced really that well on that course,” Arias said. “He’s been having some health issues as well.”

Rivera still missed an all-CIF second team berth by only 10 seconds; the 20th-place time of 16:50 was posted by Nathan Pratt of Torrey Pines.

Arias also credits Rivera’s leadership and effort throughout the season. “Just extremely proud of the way Enrique led,” Arias said. “Led by example and gave the guys a good work ethic to follow.”

Caleb Ashbrook, Fallbrook’s only other non-senior to run at the CIF meet in 2010, was out of town and missed the 2011 race. Eric Ingerson was also out of town while Israel Michel was ill and did not compete. “After our first two we pretty much dropped way back,” Arias said.

Fallbrook’s next finisher, Elijah Roque, placed 100th with a time of 18:24. Roque was not only Fallbrook’s third finisher but also the third freshman Division I finisher. “He was thrown in and he’s responded pretty well,” Arias said. “He ran well for his first race.”

The first CIF meet can be a learning experience for a runner. “Elijah wasn’t pleased with his performance and he said, ‘I’m going to come back and do better next year’,” Arias said.

Senior Ryan Maultsby closed out his high school cross-country career with a time of 18:34, which gave him 111th place among the 149 runners. “He got what he could out of it,” Arias said.

Each school was allowed to enter up to 12 runners at the league meet and seven at the CIF meet. Arias entered eight boys at the Nov. 12 competition at Kit Carson Park, and the absence of the three Fallbrook runners led to only five Warrior boys competing at the section meet. Junior Joe Calescibetta became a runner rather than an alternate, and his time of 19:53 placed 141st.

The Warriors, who finished ninth in last year’s CIF meet, placed 16th among the 20 Division I teams in this year’s competition. “We ended up dropping behind teams we had beaten previously,” Arias said. “We didn’t do as well as a team as we would have liked.”

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