Morro Bay High junior, Annabelle Wieck, competes in the CIF Central Section Finals Nov. 17, taking 37th place in the race.
Morro Bay High School’s Cross Country Teams had strong finishes at the CIF Central Section Finals Meet held Nov. 17 at Woodward Park in Clovis and one of the Lady Pirates took home some hardware.
Coach Chuck Ogle said the road to CIF was a tough one this year.
On Nov. 10, “Both varsity squads finished third at the Ocean League Finals,” Coach Ogle said, “it was a real showdown this year with nine teams in the league.” The Ocean League Finals were held at Cuesta College’s Fairbanks Course.
On the Boys’ Team, junior Otis Kelly led the charge for the Pirates, making a strong challenge to win the race but finishing second in 17-minutes 48-seconds and earning First Team All-League honors.
Senior Michael Carbajal was a close fourth and also earned First Team All-League, the coach said. Sophomore, Eli Waldman earned Second Team All-League.
For the Varsity Girls’ Team, Noleena Fahy had a great race and finished fourth in league while setting a personal best time of 22:03, beating her previous best by 1:26. Fahy too earned First Team All-League.
At the Central Section Finals on Nov. 17 the teams had good showings and Fahy earned a CIF individual medal when she finished ninth overall.
“Our Girls were ranked ninth in CIF Div. 4 heading into the meet,” Coach Ogle said, “and raced to a fourth place finish. It was Morro Bay’s best result in the Central Section since bringing home the Div. 3 Runner-up trophy in 2018.” Top-2 teams made it to the State Finals Meet and th4e Top-8 individual finishers (apart from the top teams) also qualify for State. “Noleen was one spot away from qualifying as an individual,” Coach Ogle said.
The other Lady Pirates finished further back in the pack but some set personal records for the Woodward Park Course. Junior Annabelle Wieck was 37th in 23:06.78; sophomores Rheanna Dunton and Antonella Salemi were 41st and 42nd respectively with Dunton’s 23:17.18 time just 2 seconds from her personal record (PR).
Salemi’s 23:19.59 was her PR for that course, Coach Ogle said. Freshmen, Astrid Barnett-Davis finished 65th in 24:28.86, which was also her PR at Woodward.
On the boys’ side, the Pirates finished seventh as a team and again Kelly led the field finishing 22nd in a personal best time of 17:50.41. Carbajal was a close 24th in a season best time of 17:53.96 at Woodward Park, which is also where the State Finals Meet is held.
Waldman too had a PR time of 18:39.84 for 47th place. Sophomore, Jack Walker was 3-socionds shy of setting his PR at the course, finishing 94th in 19:58.78.
Three freshmen finished out the Pirates’ scoring squad. Gabriel Pascual was 107th in 20:20.99 in his best Rookie Effort; Brendt Miranda was 127th in 21:13.93 for another PR and Dominic Holst ran his PR too clocking 21:17.48 and taking 128th.
