Sierra’s Christian Gonzalez won the 5,000-meter boys cross country race Wednesday, and teammate Anna Pittman finished fourth in the girls race to help lead the Timberwolves to fourth-place finishes in the Valley Oak League cross country meet No. 2 at Mistlin Sports complex.
Gonzalez’s first-place time was 16 minutes, 05.1 seconds.
“Throughout the race, I felt really comfortable with the first two loops,” Gonzalez said. “Then I just decided to go for it.
“I just felt really good so I went for it and it worked out.”
Manteca’s Oscar Angel finished second (16:30.9).
“I don’t really know what’s happening,” Angel said. “I haven’t had a good race in a while. There’s ups and downs in running, and this is a down time right now. Throughout the race, I kept thinking something a friend told me, which was to keep on moving — just keep moving.
“I have had some minor injuries here and there, some small setbacks, but there is a bright side ahead: I’ll be back.”
Sierra’s Ernesto Pacheco Jr. was fourth (16:52.9)
“It was a pretty good race,” Pacheco Jr. said. “I tried to stick on to Christian (Gonzalez) and Oscar (Angel) as long as I could.
“As soon as they took off, I just kept on going as much as I could, staying in front of the second Oakdale guy.”
Sierra’s 61 points was second to Oakdale’s 26.
In fourth place, Dittman (21:20.3) was one of three Sierra runners who finished in the first nine.
“It was a good race,” Dittman said. “I could have done better, but everyone has bad days.”
Dittman’s teammate Monse Saavedra finished fourth (21:20.3).
“It was a hard race but we got through it,” Saavedra said. “And I am proud of everyone.”
Sierra’s Serena Dittman was ninth (22:03.1).
The lone Manteca runner, Jordy Hegarty finished 14th (22:40.4).
“I feel like I did worse than I did last time,” Hegarty said. “I think today was just a bad day. As runners we have our good days and our bad days.
I felt kind of nervous before this race and I think that may have effected how I did. I think my nerves really played a big part in today, especially with the coarse change. I have ran the course like this before, but it was still kind of nerve-racking.”
Oakdale won the girls with 31 points and Sierra was second with 61.
Sierra won the two-mile junior varsity boys race over Central Catholic, 20-39.
Mirwais Fazli was second (12:48.3) for the Timberwolves and teammate Brady Alves was third (12:59.2).
Sierra was third in the two-mile frosh/soph, Max Perez finished second (12:26.31) for the Timberwolves.
East Union’s Jasmin Hidalgo was second (18:44.6) in the two-mile girls junior varsity race.
In the girls two-mile frosh/soph race, Manteca’s Paisley Coenenberg was second (14:18.2) while East Union’s Alysia Sinclair was second (15:16.3) and teammate Cheyenne Hudson was third (15:32.8).
