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.”

Jags finish unbeaten cross-country season with win in Valley League finals

The Valley Center varsity boys cross-country team continued its season-long winning streak, taking first place in the Valley League finals on Saturday.
This concluded an undefeated regular season for the Jaguars, as they earned their fifth league championship.
Senior runner Nicasio Westlund completed his own undefeated season to win the Valley League’s individual championship:
At league finals, the Jaguars competed against San Dieguito, Canyon Crest, Del Norte, and Orange Glen high schools. The race started at a fast pace as a group of runners completed the first mile in 4:52. The race then entered the back part of the course, and the Jaguars kept the pace up.
Westlund and Nick Vanderpool:
...took the top two positions and started to pull away, building a lead. Stephen Lopez:
...Travis Robey, Jon Larson, and Daniel Henderson were in the group following the two lead runners. Genaro Rodriguez, Logan Fidler, Alex Sanchez, Kyle Ryan, and Daniel Caballero were in the third pack of runners.
As the runners came out of the back portion of the course, Westlund was in the lead position and finished at 16:45, followed by Vanderpool who finished at 17:05.
Six Jaguars earned first-team honors and three more earned second-team honors with their outstanding finishes.
Valley Center’s top five runners took positions one, two, four, seven and nine, earning 23 points. San Dieguito had 62 points for second place, Canyon Crest was third with 72 points, Del Norte scored 93 points for fourth and Orange Glen took fifth with 137 points.
Valley Center Jaguars placed six runners in the top ten positions and nine of the top 20 positions.
For the girls, Bama Velazquez raced well, placing ninth:
...and Dani Lettice placed eleventh:
Velasquez earned first-team honors and Lettice earned second-team honors.
The boys have trained hard and have been racing well. Next up, the Jaguars will run in the CIF finals at Morley field on Saturday. The boys race is at 8:30 a.m. and the girls race starts at 9:30 a.m.
Photos by Gabriel Santana

Jags run well in tri-meet with San Dieguito and Orange Glen

Valley Center’s varsity cross-country teams took on a pair of opponents in a tri-meet on Friday at San Dieguito Park.
The Jaguars faced off against San Dieguito Academy and Orange Glen, posting solid times in both the boys and girls varsity races.
In the boys race, the Jags swept the top five spots to beat San Dieguito Academy 15–45 and also beat Orange Glen 15–48, while San Dieguito Academy beat Orange Glen 18–41.
Nicasio Westlund was the top runner on the 3.1-mile course, with a time of 16:56. Also leading the Jaguars were Daniel Henderson in second (17:11), Stephen Lopez in third (17:27), Travis Robey in fourth (17:29), Nick Vanderpoel in fifth (17:38), Jon Larson in eighth (18:20) and Alex Sanchez in tenth (18:22).
The Lady Jaguars also had the top individual finish, but could only beat Orange Glen, 25–32, while falling to San Dieguito Academy, 28–31. San Dieguito Academy also downed Orange Glen, 25–36.
Kaylee Hudson took first on the 2.6-mile course (17:36), while Bama Velasquez finished fourth (17:50) and Dani Lettice took seventh (18:15) for the Lady Jags.
Next up for the Jaguars is the league finals meet, which will be held at Kit Carson Park on Saturday.

Jags sweep top five to down Canyon Crest in cross-country

The Valley Center varsity boys cross-country team ran to another win this week against Canyon Crest Academy to remain undefeated in league so far this season, while the varsity girls team posted some strong individual performances but couldn’t get its first win of the year.
The Jaguars captured the top five spots in the race in taking a 15–44 win on the 3.1-mile course at Kit Carson Park on Friday.
Nicasio Westlund won the race for the Jaguars with a time of 16:45, followed by Stephen Lopez in second (17:09), Daniel Henderson in third (17:19), Nick Vanderpoel in fourth (17:33) and Travis Robey in fifth (17:37). Also placing in the top ten for the Jags was Genaro Rodriguez in eighth place (18:24).
For the Lady Jaguars, top finisher Kaylee Hudson took second place with a time of 16:03 on the 2.6-mile course, just one second behind the race winner. Meanwhile, Dani Lettice took sixth (17:53) and Bama Velasquez finished seventh (18:05).
The boys JV team also ran well to take a win, as Jon Larson, Logan Fiddler and Daniel Caballero took the top three spots in the race.
The boys varsity team is now 2–0, while the girls varsity team is 0–2 and the boys JV team is 1–1. The next meet is the Kit Carson Invite on Oct. 22.