LJ xc: Linden, Kalchev, and Maher lead boys

The guys rehydrate after their run in the Bronco
Roundup two-mile.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
 

By Ed Piper

La Jolla High junior Linden Scheder and seniors Alex Kalchev and Gabe Maher led La Jolla's boys cross country team to a ninth-place finish in the Bronco Roundup Invitational at Kit Carson Park in Escondido Sat., Sept. 8. Thirty-seven schools competed in the boys and girls annual events.

Scheder finished the uneven terrain course two miles long in a time of 11:20.5, in 34th place. That averages out to a split of five minutes, 40 seconds for each mile.

Kalchev and Maher passed the giant digital clock at the finish line back-to-back, being awarded identical times of 11:39.9 for their efforts.

In the earlier Division 2 girls varsity race, the Vikings' Monica O'Brien Saez burned a time of 13:13.2 on the same course, finishing 17th among the 91 entrants. But with La Jolla sending out only three runners, shy of the full seven-runner complement, O'Brien Saez's time didn't garner any team points for Coach Mandy Benham's squad.

Sophomore Hannah Nightingale finished 47th, with classmate Eugenia Kritsuk 50th, with times of 14:20.0 and 14:21.5, respectively.

Benham, the fourth-year-coach, commented after the girls' race, "They ran well." She met her competitors at the finish line and encouraged them. Nightingale had small splatter spots of mud on her left leg and shorts, so family members joked with her about that.

Completing the Viking boys' point-scoring complement, senior Ian Phipps ran a time of 11:45.8 (52nd place), sophomore Blaise Colburn 12:05.8 (66th place), sophomore Alexander West 12:17.5 (69th place), and senior Ian Dickinson, with a time of 12:24.6, in 73rd place.