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Schools

Varsity Cross Country Loses by 1 point to Vanden

With 2 meets left, the Benicia Varsity Boys Team have 3 wins and 2 losses

The Benicia High School Cross Country Teams traveled to Rockville Hills Regional Park in Fairfield on Wednesday, October 13th for their fifth league meet.  The team had to overcome a host of obstacles but in the end couldnt quite catch a determined Vanden team.

The first obstacle was simply getting to the meet.  The bus ride was an uneventful 25 minute affair but then the team had to make a 20 minute uphill trek in 90 degree heat to get to the start line.

The next obstacle was the course itself.  No one on the team had ever raced on this course so they had to learn about it while racing on it.

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For the Boys Varsity team the next obstacle, and the one they couldn't overcome was the injury to senior Oliver Wolken, the Panthers number two cross country runner. After the race, Wolken said as he was going up the hill around the 1.5 mile mark, his foot landed funny on a rock and he twisted his upper right quad.  He said it was painful but thought it would work itself out. 

Coming off the hilly part of the course Wolken who is usually races near the front was in 15th place.  

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The top two places went to Vanden.   Panthers Scott Yip and  Nick took third and fourth repectively with times of 17:30 for Yip and 17:48 for Strohl.  Rounding out the top five for Benicia were Grant Friesen in 18:23, Cole Friesen in 18:32, and Jackson McNutt in 18:45. 

Friesen and Strohl improve each week and their efforts in this race proved nearly enough to overcome the injury to Oliver.  In the end it was Vanden 38 and Benicia 39.

The girls varsity team once again grabbed third with German exchange student Clara Isslemann  the first the lady Panther o cross the finish line and taking fifth place over all in the race in a time of 21:23.  Teammate Andreya Atkins crossed the line in a time of 25:38.  Rounding out the top five were Sara Guinon in 26:05. Hanah Antoo in 27:24 and Diana Quinn in 27:27.

The Boys Frosh/ Soph team continue its domination of and remains udefeated at 5-0 though they were pushed in this meet, winning by just two points.  Freshman Sam Love finished the 2 mile course in a third place over all in a time of 15:57.  He was followed by Francis Samonte with a time of 16:56, Daniel Hein 17:07, Andrew Jacobs in 18:10, and Andrew Cumpas in 18:40.

 

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