Foothill Girls Win Independence Invitational

A new invite by a new school brings a small field to Independence high school. Being on the same day as the McFarland, is unfortunate and diluted both local events especially on a weekend when many teams look to travel out of town as well.

Despite all of the above, it looks like both the boys and girls races were good close races for the most part. In the boys race, Sandles (photo) won in a time 17:03 on the 5k course. He was followed by one athlete from each of the other competing schools.

In the end, North won the invite and was lead by Lopez who came in 3rd in a time of 17:52. The host took second by a point over Foothill. The results would have been different if Foothill's number one runner Jose Lopez had run the race.

Independence Invitational

Boys at Independence; 5K course

Team scores--North 30, Independence 46, Foothill 47

Individual results--1. Sandles, GV, 17:03; 2. Bautista, F, 17:42; 3. Lopez, N, 17:52; 4. Facho, I, 18:08; 5. Mosqueda, N, 18:11; 6. Davalos, N, 18:17; 7. Fisher, I, 18:25; 8. Garcia, F, 18:29; 9. Gamino, GV, 18:30; 10. Kostner, I, 18:34.

JV Foothill 42, North 43, Golden Valley 77, Independence 80

FS Foothill 35, North 43, Independence 50

The girls race was won by Natalie Fernandez (21:20) who lead her Trojans to the team win and has been improving with each meet this season. At the EB invite, the North's two girls beat her.

Girls at Independence; 5K course

Team scores--Foothill 37, North 50, Independence 52, Golden Valley 74

Individual results--1. Fernandez, F, 21:20; 2. Veloz, F, 21:29; 3. Moyer, N, 21:43; 4. Perez, N, 21:46; 5. Webb, I, 22:01; 6. Ingram, I, 22:07; 7. Sullivan, I, 22:08; 8. Marsala, F, 22:23; 9. Silva, GV, 22:47; 10. Perez, N, 22:56.

JV Golden Valley 21, Independence 34

FS North 16, Foothill 49, Independence 64

Trojans Add to Their Win Column

Good thing Golden Valley has Sandles, our they would be racking up a lot of 15 to 50 scores. He won the race and was followed by seven Trojans who were lead by Bautista (Photo).

Varsity Boys Foothill 20 GV 43

1. Sandles GV 16:42
2. Bautista F 16:55
3. Lopez F 17:13
4. Meyer F 18:19
5. Garcia F 18:21
6. Rodriguez F 18:34
7. Verdugo F 18:49
8. Espinoza F 19:10
9. Gamino GV 20:25
10. Razo GV 21:05
11. Lopez GV 21:23
12. Medina GV 21:30

The girls race was a lot closer than expected. I do notice that Foothill's number two runner (Perla Veloz) is not in the results. Last week she got sick during the race, stopped and then started again and still did real well. Perhaps this week she is sicker.

Varsity Girls Foothill 25 GV 31

1. Fernadez F 21:18
2. Castro F 22:01
3. Silva GV 22:14
4. Rodriguez GV 22:17
5. Salguna GV 22:20
6. Montoya F 22:22
7. Ibarra GV 22:29
8. Rodriguez F 23:56
9. Escudero F 23:02
10. Salgado GV 24:14
11. Reynoso GV 24:27
12. Alvero GV 26:33

Trojans are Victorious

It is a new era at Foothill in that Schwartz is gone and they have a new head coach. The season has started well for them with two wins in their first dual meet. In the boys race, they took the first two spots and had six in the top ten for the win.

In the girls race, Liberty's Ashley Barton (photo) won but Foothill won the team race with Natalie Fernandez leading them with her second place finish.


Boys:
Foothill 25, Liberty 31 At Liberty

1. Lopez, F, 16:53; 2. Bautista, F, 17:04; 3. Shotts, L, 17:14; 4. Moffit, L, 17:34; 5. Perez, L, 18:16; 6. Rodriguez, F, 18:24; 7. Garcia, F, 18:36; 8. Tenney, L, 18:41; 9. Verdugo, F, 18:48; 10. Espinoza, F, 19:11.

JV Foothill by forfeit.

Girls:

Foothill 24, Liberty 31 At Liberty

1. Barton, L, 20:01; 2. Fernandez, F.

JV Foothill by forfeit

Trojans are ranked Third in Division 2

Two local squads are ranked 3rd and 4th in this division. Both squads have a dominate front runner and a good supporting cast too. Both also have good coaches, so look for both squads to be there in November.

The one unknown is whether Foothill's Fernandez will be at the top of her game because this past track season, she was M.I.A.

4. 122 HIG-B/Highland - Bakersfield ( 21:49 1:49:04)

1 5 Nichole Berry Jr 744 6 20:30
2 13 Jeannette Rodriguez Jr 745 14 21:18
3 28 Gabriela Rodier Sr 747 30 22:07
4 29 Katherine Mayberry So 746 31 22:12
5 47 Desiree Martinez Jr 749 50 22:57
6 ( 52) Hilaria Vasquez Jr 748 55 23:03
7 ( 77) Christina Valenzuela Fr 750 83 24:32

5. 135 FT-B/Foothill - Bakersfield ( 21:53 1:49:24)

1 3 Natalie Fernandez So 399 3 20:04
2 16 Perla Veloz So 400 17 21:28
3 30 Crystal Rodriguez Jr 402 32 22:14
4 37 Kaitlyn Mrasak So 401 40 22:39
5 49 Erika Alvarez Sr 403 52 22:59
6 ( 50) Erica Castro So 404 53 23:01
7 ( 62) Violeta Quintanar Sr 405 66 23:29

Division II

1. Mt. Whitney 80 1

2. Tulare 108 2

3. Foothill 114 3

4. Sunnyside 116 4

5. El Diamante 117 5

6. Highland 118 6

7. Liberty (Bakersfield) 175 7

8. Sanger 204 9

9. Garces 210 8

10. North (Bakersfield) 227 10

Complete Valley Rankings HERE.

Foothill posted a 108:27 team time at the Clovis Invite:

Their top five averaged 21:41 on the Woodward course at the Clovis Invite in 2008.

Foothill girls squads have been large over the past couple seasons and I am sure their new head coach will continue that
tradition. For the past two years, Natalie Fernandez (photo) has run the exact same time as Sarah Baker (Bakersfield Jr) at the SEYL
meet and Sarah has won by a nose both years. This past track season, she seemed to have disappeared but often cross country
runners do not run track.

5. 135 FT-B/Foothill - Bakersfield ( 21:53 1:49:24)

1 3 Natalie Fernandez So 399 3 20:04
2 16 Perla Veloz So 400 17 21:28
3 30 Crystal Rodriguez Jr 402 32 22:14
4 37 Kaitlyn Mrasak So 401 40 22:39
5 49 Erika Alvarez Sr 403 52 22:59
6 ( 50) Erica Castro So 404 53 23:01
7 ( 62) Violeta Quintanar Sr 405 66 23:29

2009 track times:

Womens 1600 Meter
Rank	Mark		Name	Grade	School	Section	Meet	Date
1	6:05.72		Perla Veloz		Foothill	CE	Liberty Frosh-Soph Invit...	03/27/09
2	6:14.39		Kaitlyn:Mrasak		Foothill	CE	Liberty Frosh-Soph Invit...	03/27/09
3	6:23.38		Erica;Castro		Foothill	CE	Frontier Frosh-Soph Relays	04/04/09
4	7:00.37		Judith!Curiel		Foothill	CE	Frontier Frosh-Soph Relays	04/04/09

86:52 Team Time - 17:22 average by Foothill at Clovis 08

6. 200 FT-B/Foothill - Bakersfield ( 17:39 1:28:14)

1 1 Chris Schwartz Sr 406 1 15:49
2 26 Jose Lopez Jr 407 26 17:30
3 32 Erick Bautista Jr 408 32 17:45
4 62 Genaro Quintanar Fr 409 63 18:20
5 79 Patrick Manrique Sr 411 81 18:50
6 ( 89) Justin Meyer Fr 410 92 19:03
7 ( 96) Daniel Rodriguez So 412 99 19:12

With Schwartz graduating, there will be a new SEYL champ this season. Also at Foothill, there is a new head coach, Paul Contreras who also ran for Foothill under legendary Coach Ted Oliver. Over the past seasons, Foothill has had large squads and I am sure the tradition will continue. The two returning runners of note for the Trojans are Erick Bautista and Jose Lopez.

2	4:53.84		Jose Lopez		Foothill	CE	Kern Relays	03/13/09
3	5:15.09		CesariEspinosa		Foothill	CE	Liberty Frosh-Soph Invit...	03/27/09
4	5:19.57		EduardoiVite		Foothill	CE	Liberty Frosh-Soph Invit...	03/27/09
5	5:20.72		Christian Paredes		Foothill	CE	Liberty Frosh-Soph Invit...	03/27/09
6	5:27.31		Cesar Espinoza		Foothill	CE	Frontier Frosh-Soph Relays

Schwartz runs: 9:16.16 in the 2 Mile at Nike Outdoor Nationals

His splits were:

1:04.89(1:04.89) 2:12.71(1:07.83) 3:20.18(1:07.47) 4:27.74(1:07.57) 5:39.14(1:11.41)
6:56.30(1:17.16) 8:12.73(1:16.44) 9:16.16(1:03.44)

His 3000m time was 8:43.97

• Race Video HERE.
• 2009 Meet Coverage HERE.
• Photos HERE.
  

National: N 8:34.40 6/20/2008 German Fernandez, Riverbank
Meet: M 8:34.40 6/20/2008 German Fernandez, Riverbank
Freshman: F 8:53.98 6/13/2009 Lukas Verzbicas, Lincoln Wa
Freshman: F 9:01.68
Sophomore: O 8:50.6h 1974 Eric Hulst, Laguna Beach, C
Junior: J 8:41.10 2000 Dathan Ritzenhein (3200), R
Junior: J 8:44.9h 1975 Eric Hulst, Laguna Beach, C
Name Year School Finals
================================================================
Finals
1 Trevor Dunbar 09 Kodiak, AK 8:49.79O
2 Zachary Wills 11 Mason, OH 8:55.18F
3 Lukas Verzbicas 12 New Lenox, IL 8:55.58F
4 Graham Bazell 09 Columbia, MD 8:56.00F
5 Jeff Thode 09 Schaumburg, IL 8:57.36F
6 Wes Rickman 09 Falcon, CO 8:57.84F
7 Shane Moskowitz 10 Bremerton, WA 8:58.86F
8 Thomas Porter 09 Fredericksburg, VA 8:59.08F
9 Nick Happe 09 St. Charles, MO 9:02.47
10 Andrew Springer 09 Westerly, RI 9:02.93
11 Bobby Andrews 09 Wading River, NY 9:12.47
12 Joe Rosa 11 Plainsboro, NJ 9:12.91
13 Tyler Stutzman 09 Charlottesville, VA 9:14.71
14 Christopher Schwartz 09 Bakersfield, CA 9:16.16
15 Ben Furcht 09 Haverford, PA 9:16.27
16 Kirubel Erassa 10 Grayson, GA 9:17.29
17 Matthew Sonnenfeldt 09 Knoxville, TN 9:17.66
18 Clint McKelvey 10 Maryville, TN 9:19.92
19 Matthew Estlund 09 St. Charles, MO 9:22.43
20 Walter Schafer 10 Centennial, CO 9:24.14
21 Scott Anderson 09 West Falls, NY 9:25.11
22 Dylan Sorensen 09 Zionsville TC 9:25.36
23 Nohe Lema 09 San Jose, CA 9:25.42
24 Dominick Robinson 09 Gillette, WY 9:26.74
25 Ben Veilleux 09 Berryville, VA 9:29.70
26 Taro Shigenobu 09 Ridgewood, NJ 9:33.40
27 Joey Whelan 09 hamburg, NY 9:33.76
28 Sherod Hardt 10 Queen Creek, AZ 9:34.32
29 David Forward 10 Medford, NJ 9:41.43
30 Logan Rosenberg 09 Carmel, IN 9:41.86
31 Phil Fairleigh 10 Cary, IL 9:50.66
32 Dave Oster 10 Verona, NJ 10:06.03
33 George Galasso 09 Holmdel, NJ 10:25.45