Wednesday, Oct. 26 was a banner day for the Oakdale Mustang cross country program as both the varsity girls and varsity boys completed undefeated, 20-0, seasons in walking away with their fifth and second consecutive championships, respectively, in the Valley Oak League Championship Meet held at Eagal Lakes in Tracy. Seniors Kassidy Fmura and Dax Daley reigned supreme as individual varsity league champions, but it was the team efforts that were most impressive.
The Mustang varsity boys are currently the top ranked Division III cross country team in the State of California, and that fact was accentuated by the boys’ performance in the league meet. Daley’s impressive time of 17 minutes, 31.6 seconds over the 3-mile course was equaled by junior Omar Alsaidi who finished just a hair behind Daley with the exact same time in the electronically-timed event. Junior Jackson Oliveira and sophomore Jacob Cavanaugh were a mere one tenth of a second behind Daley and Alsaidi (17:31.7) and senior Caleb Cavanaugh (17:32.3) was six tenths of a second behind them to finish fifth.
To a casual observer, it looked like a stampede of Mustangs crossing the finish line together in what can only be described as total dominance. Indeed, Mustang runners garnered 10 of the top 13 placings with senior Nathan Luca (17:46.1), juniors Carlos Martinez (17:55.9) and Abner Gonzalez (17:57.3), senior Gabe Archuleta (18:16.8) and junior Mason Oliveira (18:29.7) finishing seventh, eighth, 10th, 12th, and 13th respectively overall in the race. As is the case in all VOL cross country meets, each race has overall placers, but scoring is on a dual meet basis; the Mustangs won six dual meets that day in addition to the overall event.
Not to be outdone, the Mustang varsity girls were also dominant taking six of the top 15 places in the 3-mile race. Fmura’s first place finish in 21 minutes, seven seconds was complemented by the dynamic sophomore duo of Ava Colondro (21:39.0) and Audry Scott (21:57.6) who finished third and fifth respectively. Seniors Karina Verduzco (22:59.7), Anna Nalder (23:12.6), and April Duarte (23:28.1) finished 12th, 14th, and 15th respectively as, like the boys, the Mustangs won each of the dual meets as well as the overall race.
The Frosh-Soph boys finished the season with a record of 18-6, good for a tie for second place in the VOL. Over their 2-mile course, freshmen Parker Whitemyer (11:22.0) and Dirk Scott (11:23.7) finished second and third overall, while sophomore Landon Arnold (12:42.1) finished 10th.
Coaches Guy Fowler and Vic Moreno were elated with the results of the meet.
It was a “great day for Oakdale,” said Fowler. “We ran extremely well and came home with some championships. Vic and I are very excited for the team, but it is now back to business and to get ready for Sub-Sections.”
The California Interscholastic Federation, Sac-Joaquin Sub-Section Meet referred to by Fowler will be held at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds, also known as Frogtown, on Saturday, Nov. 5.
