The Yucca Valley High School cross country team traveled to the University of California, Santa Barbara to compete in the Gaucho Invitational. When the races were done, the Trojans collected five medals in the top 30, 10 personal best times, and one school course record. As a team, the boys tied for sixth and the girls were fifth out of 18 competing schools.
Coach Jay Stepp said on the girls’ side, “Emma Mills shattered our course record by 58 seconds, covering the three miles in 19:23 and placing fifth overall.” Mills was followed by Cadence Youngman in 20th place (20:27), Sara Mills in 25th (20:36), Cynthia Angeles in 39th (21:36), and Markina Evdokimoff in 125th (26:06). There were 136 runners in the race.
The boys were led by Elijah Ocegueda, placing eighth in a time of 16:08, only two seconds off the school’s course record. He was followed by Andy Tamayo in 22nd (16:37), Alan Campos in 46th (17:27), Blake Stewart in 87th (18:45), and Stephen Goddard in 91st (18:55).
Stepp said, “The early meet gave us a good indication of where we are in CIF and the work that needs to be done over the next 10 weeks.”
The Trojans will compete again this Saturday at the Beaumont Invitational. Start time is 8 a.m. for junior varsity and 9 a.m. for the varsity.
