Women’s XC has solid opening run
The Saddleback women's cross country team finished in third place at the Tour de Cuesta Meet on Friday in San Luis Obispo. The Gauchos had three finishers in the top-10 against solid competition.
Saddleback has a young lineup in 2018, but they looked like veterans on Friday in their opening collegiate meet. The Gauchos ran third behind Moorpark College and Hartnell College, two teams that finished in the top-15 at the state finals last fall.
Saddleback was led by Holly Morales, Megan Good and Alexis Park, who finished 3-5-9, respectively, on Friday. Morales is a freshman from Dana Hills High School who finished 15 seconds out of second place and 1:07 off the blazing pace set by Moorpark's Sammy Barajas. Morales crossed the finish line in 20:08.1 on the 3-mile course in San Luis Obispo. Good (San Juan Hills HS) was the lone sophomore to finish in the top-25 on Friday, crossing the tape in 20:15.6 and in fifth place. Just behind her was freshman Alexis Park (Trabuco Hills HS) in ninth place with a time of 20:54.5.
Other Gauchos on Friday included Dana McGrath (16th), Cayla Porter (17th), Hailey Hunner (23rd), Kirsten Whieldon (27th) and Stef Alvillar (33rd).
Saddleback will run again on Friday at the Palomar College Invitational at Guajome Park in Oceanside. Meet time is scheduled for 9:00 AM.