Warrior boys dominate in cross-country tri-meet at Fallbrook

The decision of the North County Conference cross-country coaches to hold league cluster meets involving all six league teams instead of league dual meets during the 2013 season left schools without home meets unless they scheduled a non-league dual meet or tri-meet.

Fallbrook High School hosted a tri-meet Oct. 11 involving Escondido, Oceanside, and Fallbrook, and the Warrior boys defeated both Escondido and Oceanside.

“The guys performed well,” said Fallbrook coach Marco Arias.

In a tri-meet, all three teams run in the same race while each team is scored against each other team. Fallbrook’s boys defeated Escondido by a 15-40 score and Oceanside by a 15 to 44 margin. Team scores are obtained by adding the positions of a school’s top five finishers; a school’s sixth and seventh finishers are not scored but can add positions to another team’s score.

Fallbrook had the first five finishers on the 3.2-mile course. Rene Hernandez posted a time of 17:02; Elijah Roque took 17:16; Alex Contreras completed the course in 17:22; Sam Comerford raced for 17:39, and Chris Larson crossed the finish line 17:44 after the start of the race.

Fallbrook’s sixth finisher, Wade Leehey, was 12th overall at 18:55. Roberto Valencia finished 14th after a 19:06 performance.

Fallbrook’s junior varsity boys defeated Oceanside but lost to Escondido.

In the Oct. 4 league cluster meet at Buena Vista Park in Vista, Fallbrook’s varsity boys and junior varsity boys both finished last among the six teams. “We finally got some competition that was similar to us,” Arias said.

Fallbrook’s girls team defeated Oceanside while losing to Escondido. The girls ran a 2.7-mile course.

“It was a fun meet overall,” Arias said. “Everybody had a good time.”