Coronado High School's girls cross country team finished second at the CCA Raven XC 3-mile Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 5, as personal bests piled up across the Islanders' lineup.
The meet was the Islanders' first three-mile race of the season, held two weeks after the season-opening Vaquero Stampede. Head coach Pete Wilson said the girls' runner-up finish showed what happens when athletes compete for one another, according to the Coronado Times.
Senior Vivian Scott led the Coronado girls with a personal-best 20:27. Senior Carly DeVore also turned in a strong race. Senior Lily Humphrey clocked a personal-best 22:41, and junior Teaghan Carpinito ran 23:26, shaving more than 1 minute and 38 seconds off her previous three-mile best. Carpinito's improvement helped seal the team's second-place finish. Junior Ava Schlomer represented Coronado in the 1.5-mile race.
On the boys' side, sophomore Evan Russo broke the 17-minute barrier with a personal-best 16:51, finishing 21st in a 300-runner sophomore field. At the Vaquero Stampede on Aug. 22, Russo had led the Coronado boys with a 20th-place finish among 367 runners in a two-mile race, according to the Coronado News. Wilson called the three-mile result another major step forward.
Sophomore Ayrton Reyes broke the 18-minute barrier with a personal-best 17:54. Wilson described the effort in vivid terms: "He literally left it all on the course, including his breakfast and lunch, after crossing the finish line."
The effort paid off.
Junior Ziggy Raunig led Coronado's junior boys. Junior Sebastian Tamariz posted a personal-best 19:04, cutting more than a minute off his previous mark. Sophomore Jameson "J-Money" Laaperi ran a personal-best 20:28, an improvement of 2 minutes and 35 seconds. Wilson credited hard work for Laaperi's jump.
Timothy Gilbert, Wyatt Barratt, Oliver Surdykowski and freshman Felix Scott also finished for the Islanders' boys.
Coronado's next meet had not been announced as of Sept. 8.
