Newbury Park junior Nico Young put down one of the fastest times in history in winning the Boys Sweepstakes race at the 38th Woodbridge Cross Country Classic at SilverLakes. (Frank Bellino photo)
For the boys, the Great Oak arsenal was led by junior Gabriel Abbes' 14:17, 8th-place performance. But, within the next 25 seconds, Abbes would be joined by his teammates in the corral in perhaps the best team performance in the nation thus far! Tyler Tickner (14:22), Chris Verdugo (14:37), Cameron Hylton (14:38), and Noah Nevens (14:42) closed out the scoring. In a display of incredible depth, Great Oak's 'B' team captured the victory in the Boys Rated Race as well! Sophomore Mateo Joseph led the way with a 14:44, runner-up finish. Ten boys altogether broke the 15 minute barrier for the Wolfpack! In destroying the team time meet record, Great Oak cemented its status among the national rankings and left no doubt that the Wolfpack are the best squad in California!
Young is carrying over the astounding improvement that we witnessed this past track season. Young ran 15:17 a year ago at this same invite, improving by over 76 seconds! His transition into one of the nation's best has elevated Newbury Park into the national spotlight and bolstered his Panthers to a 2nd-place finish in the Boys Sweepstakes race. Ethan Ronk (14:23). Nicholas Goldstein (14:56) and Kyndall Long (15:00) backed up Young's victory.
Young, who was 75th as a sophomore, ran the No. 4 time in SilverLakes course history and the No. 7 time in meet history. Ramos improved year-over-year by one-tenth and holds the No. 6 time on the SilverLakes course and the No 9 all-time clocking in Woodbridge history. Mota's 14:05.40 is No. 7 on the Norco course and No. 11 in the 38-year history of the meet, based on records available on the meet home page (http://gvarvas.com/).
Among the Southern Section's top boys teams in Division II, Claremont took the weekend off, Loyola impressed down in San Diego earlier in the day, and Newbury Park outdistanced 3rdplace Thousand Oaks by 58 points at Woodbridge. November's D-II finals are shaping up to be one of the closest and most anticipated battles in the Southern Section!
