Jaguar cross-country teams run well in CIF section finals and state finals

Valley Center’s varsity cross-country teams wrapped up an outstanding season with stellar individual performances and solid team results at the CIF San Diego Section Division III Championships at Morley Field on Nov. 20.
The Jaguars took second place in the boys varsity race with 74 points, behind only Cathedral Catholic with 48, and ahead of El Capitan in third with 122.
Leading the way, as he has all season, was senior Nicasio Westlund, who finished second on the 3.04-mile course with a time of 16:24, just one second behind the race winner, Alex Eve of La Jolla. Stephen Lopez also ran well for the Jaguars, finishing in 12th with a time of 17:00.
In all, the Jaguars ran well enough to send seven runners to the state championship race, which will be held on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. The seven runners headed to the state meet are Westlund, Lopez, Nick Vanderpoel (17:10), Daniel Henderson (17:18), Travis Robey (17:22), Jon Larson (17:45) and Genaro Rodriguez (17:57).
Meanwhile, the Lady Jaguars took sixth place as a team, finishing with 216 points, behind the top three teams; Clairemont in first with 52, Cathedral Catholic in second with 55 and University City in third with 88.
Kaylee Hudson finished sixth overall to lead the Lady Jags on the 2.75-mile course, with a time of 17:04. Hudson was the only Lady Jaguar to qualify for the state meet.

The Jaguars sent eight runners to the state meet in Fresno on Saturday and put together another round of outstanding individual times.
The previous weekend, the Jaguars competed in the CIF San Diego Section finals at Morley Field, where the boys team finished second in Division III and posted a team score good enough for sixth overall.
Individually, the Jaguars earned seven spots in the state meet, while Kaylee Hudson, who took sixth in the section final race, was the lone state qualifier for the Lady Jags.
At the state meet, the Jaguars ran well as a team and finished 13th, with a total time of 1:21:56, the best state meet finish for a boys team in Valley Center High School history.
Leading the way, as he has all season, was senior Nicasio Westlund, who finished 16th out of 205 runners with a time of 15:44 on the 3.1-mile course at Woodward Park. Nick Vanderpoel finished 72nd (16:22), followed by Daniel Henderson in 73rd (16:24), Stephen Lopez in 84th (16:28), Travis Robey in 123rd (16:58), Jon Larson in 134th (17:04) and Genaro Rodriguez in 171st (17:36).
Hudson, meanwhile, finished 37th in the girls race, with a time of 19 minutes flat, giving her the third-best overall time for a Lady Jaguar runner in school history. Five of the seven Jaguar runners also moved into the school’s top ten list as well.
“It was a great couple of weeks for us,” said head coach Mike Cummings. “Congratulations to the team for their efforts. All of the hard work paid off.”