Saturday, September 18 offered the Santiago Cross Country team their first official taste of victory for the 2016 season. The Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, sponsored by Sketchers Performance, is one of the team’s biggest meets of the year, typically summoning over 200 schools from around the country to stir up some stellar rivalry. That’s not to say there weren’t some familiar faces on the starting line. Centennial, Corona, and Roosevelt made appearances as well, offering our Sharks a preview of this year’s League competition.

Though Woodbridge meets are traditionally held at Orange County Great Park, this year the Silver Lakes Sports Complex in Norco played host. The course itself changed little; the usual terrain of grass, dirt, and turf held no surprises for Returners, though the lack of switchbacks on the third mile was a welcome sight.

Following the Novice races, the JV Girls kicked off Saturday’s first big Division 1 race. Kiara Etheridge (11) was the first Shark to cross the finish line, coming in as the 19^th girl out of 225 competitors. Savannah Farrell (12) was hot on her heels, a mere 32 seconds behind. The girls took 11^th out of 23 as a team for that race, falling in right after Great Oaks.

The Frosh Girls proved more successful, taking first place as a team out of 18 schools and leaving Roosevelt in the dust. Katelyn Meza (9) took first individually in the 195-girl race. Her teammate Riley Corcoran (9) wasn’t far behind, easily snatching fourth place.

The Sophomore Girls maintained the trend, also taking first as a team with girls in first and fourth individually. Samantha Velazquez (10) stepped up to first place with Alyssa Struve (10) in fourth.

We raced short in the Varsity Girls race, with only two girls, Jasmine Flores (12) and Eliana Weckwerth (9), on the line. Flores managed to take 42^nd out of 146 contenders, Weckwerth coming in at 84^th.

Cayla Etheridge (10) was our only girl to make the prestigious Girls Sweepstakes race. She took 62^nd out of 164 top-notch runners.

Kyle Pendleton (11) also had the honor of representing Santiago in the Boys Sweepstakes race, taking 169^th out of 200 at an incredible 16:00.8 minutes for three miles.

Our Frosh Boys took 14^th as a team out of 28 schools. Sergio Campusano (9) was our leading Shark, slipping into 36^th out of a whopping 352 opponents.

Sophomore Boys weren’t too shabby either, coming in at 16^th out of 32 schools. George Sonora (10) took fourth individually out of 308.

The Junior Boys were shorthanded, with only three boys, Brandon Bolanos (11), Hunter Payne (11), and Evan Weckwerth (11), on the course.

Varsity Boys came in 16^th out of 21 teams, just missing Roosevelt. However, Marcos Milla (11) got his hands on fourth individually, coming in well before any rival Mustangs and actually beating Pendleton’s time by 57 seconds.

Despite a few well earned victories, there’s no doubt that our runners could’ve started the season with a bigger bang. Thankfully, there’s still a whole season to go and plenty of chances to make it big. Here’s to shunning mediocraty and adding a few more first place plaques to this year’s shelf. Keep ‘em coming Sharks!