Paso runner wins boys race; MBHS's Taylor takes second at the Morro Bay Invitational

Annual event is among the largest cross country meets in the early season

Local athletes had great showings at the Sept. 14 Morro Bay Invitational Cross Country Meet.

Paso Robles High School senior harrier Tyler Daillak ran away from the field and won the Large School Boys race at the meet, held at Morro Bay High School and using a route traversing a variety of surfaces — from grass to asphalt and beach sand — making this race one of the more challenging the prep athletes will see all year.

With some 123 runners in the race, Daillak timed 14 minutes, 19 seconds over the 2.61-mile course for the win. He was followed by Noel Huato, a junior from Del Oro High, who clocked 14:50.3, and Paso’s Brian Arndt, a junior, who was third in 14:51.9.

Del Oro won the team competition with 81 total points from its Top-5 runners. Bullard was second with 90 and Paso Robles was third with 96 (the lower the score the better the finish).

Morro Bay’s Shelby Taylor (right) and Wendy Wilson were near the head of the pack just after the start of the Small Schools Girls Varsity race.

In the Small Schools Boys race, San Luis Obispo High senior Conor Mason won by nearly 100 yards, timing 15:06.9, well ahead of second-place finisher, teammate, and fellow senior Jacob Schuetze (15:23.9). Isaac Saravia, a sophomore from Porterville, was third in 15:27.6.
Morro Bay’s top runner was senior Eli Waldman, who finished 14th and took the last of the medals.

MBHS sophomore Abe Gabe was 16th in 16:16.4, with sophomore Lucas McAlpine 20th in 16:31.5. The Pirates’ other two runners were sophomore Cameron C’Aunoy (47th, 17:18) and junior Dominic Holst (53rd, 17:30.8).

Also of note, Templeton’s William Wallace, a junior, finished seventh in 15:49.8 in a race that had 142 runners.

SLOHS took the team trophy scoring 37 points, with Porterville second with 79, and McFarland third with 97.
In the Small Schools Girls race, SLO High’s Phoebe Drazsnzak, a senior, won the race in 18:10.3, with Morro Bay’s sophomore phenom, Shelby Taylor, taking second in 18:19.1. Third went to SLO senior Leila Johnson in 18:51.2.

Morro Bay’s other strong sophomore, Wendy Wilson, finished fifth in 18:58.7, and junior Phaedra FernFlores was 13th in 19:33.1. The Lady Pirates’ other scoring runners were Astrid Barnett-Davis (34th, 21:42.7), and senior, Rheanna Dunton (92nd, 24:47.4). The Lady Pirates look to be starting off where they left off last year when the girls’ varsity squad qualified for the State Meet.

SLOHS won the team trophy with 50 points, Highland was second with 74, and Morro Bay took third with 127 in a race that had 123 runners. Also, Naomi Julian of Templeton was ninth in 19:22.8.

In the Small Schools Boys JV race, SLO High grabbed the top two spots as senior Jacob McClure won in 17:01.6; and Ryan Bolivar, another senior, was second in 17:30.5.

Morro Bay’s top finisher was Gabriel Pascual, a junior, in 22nd place and 18:25.3.

In the Small Schools Girls JV race, SLO High pulled off the exceedingly rare perfect race, taking the top five spots and scoring a perfect 15 points to win the team trophy.

Junior Carly Meeks led the way (first, 19:22.9), followed by Kasey Abercromby (soph., 19:23), Charlotte Petit (soph., 19:51.4), Leah Siciliano (soph., 20:21.2), and Molly Berkeland (Jr., 20:35.6) all writing their names into the meet’s storied history.

Second in the team scoring was McFarland with 64, and third was Highland with 65.

The annual event, which is among the largest cross country meets in the early season with over 1,400 runners, also has Novice races (runners in their first meet ever) and a Middle School Division for kids in seventh-eighth grades.

To see all the race results, go online to Racefoxresults.com and download the pdf file.