Pictured above is Flashes Senior Vanessa Avila who placed 6th at the Eagle Invitational this past Saturday in El Segundo. Photo courtesy Coach Kim Tafoya.

On Saturday the Fillmore Cross Country teams competed at the Eagle Invitational in El Segundo on the Lakes Golf Course. Combined with the warm weather and the humidity the course run mostly on grass and rolling hills with many turns. This proved to be very challenging especially as the day wore on.

The day started with 4 girls competed in the Varsity division. They were led by senior Vanessa Avila who placed 6th in 19:28.9. This was the fastest time of the day for the Fillmore girl competitors and Vanessa’s fastest time this year. She was followed by newcomer Aliana Tapia who placed 20th, in 21:02.7. Both Vanessa and Aliana were awarded an individual medal. They were followed by Angelica Herrera 31st. in 21:57.5, and Giselle Perez 34th in 22:20.9.

The boys varsity ran to a first place team finish besting a field of 11 teams. Leading the charge were the one, two punch of Fabian Del Villar and Erick Gutierrez. Fabi finished in 4th in 15:57. He was followed by Erick Gutierrez 5th in 15:58.1, Michael Camilo Torres 9th in 16:18.7, Jesse Martinez 10th in 16:24.2 and rounding out the scorers Davis Flores 11th in 16:33.2. All five of these athletes were awarded individual medals and a winning team finisher’s plaque. This was the top team performance of the day for all Fillmore teams.

The junior boys also performed well and finished 3rd in the team competition. They were led by Jesse De La Cruz who finished in 4th place and posted a time of 16:39.6. He was closely followed by teammate Matthew Munoz 5th in 16:51.3, Juan Carlos Laureano 9th in 17:15.1, Dave Bustos 34th in 18:39.7, Andres Gonzalez 42nd in 18:50.6, and Brian Sanchez 65th in 19:29. Jesse, Matt, JC and Andres were awarded individual medals and this team brought home a third place team plaque.

Eva Vieyra was the lone Fillmore competitor in the Girls JV race. Eva finished in 45th place in a field of 105 runners and was awarded an individual medal.

The boys sophomore race saw Fillmore’s top runner, James Flores finish in 25th place in 17:48.1. He was followed by Brandon Gonzalez 77th in 19:18.9, Eneyin Ortega 85th in 19:28.8, Nathen Hurtado 119th in 20:24, Izaac Hurtado 167th in 22:13.8, and Luke Hernandez 193rd in 24:39.9. James Flores was the only medal winner in this group and the group finished 12th in the team competition.

Fillmore had two competitors in the sophomore girl’s race. Leading Fillmore athletes was Jasmine Vega who place 18th in 22:32.6. She was followed by Natalie Cobian 38th in 24:33.9. Both girls were awarded individual medals.

The freshman boys were led by Luis Castaneda who finished in 26th place in a time of 18:30.7. This was an 18 second improvement for Luis over last week. He was followed by Theodore Ebell 139th in 22:11.9, David Reyes 151st in 22:49.5, Nicholas Hurtado 161st in 23:10.8, and Armando Martinez 189th in 25:33. Luis was an individual medal winner in this race.

The freshman girls were led by Emely Garcia in 89th place in a time of 25:25.8. She was followed by Lorena Perez 107th in 26:34, Yarely Orozco 125th in 28:45.2, Liliana Montejano 129th in 29:05.1 and Wendy Ciciliano 132nd in 30:19.5. In the team competition the girls finished in 12th place. All of these young ladies ran their first 3 miler in the hottest part of the day. Fillmore tough.

The Flashes will next compete at the Raider Invitational in Oxnard at College Park. The meet is scheduled for Friday, October 20th at 1 PM. Hope to see you there.