Oakdale High School

Oakdale Cross Country Girls Run To Supercross Crown

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Every squad that showed up was in for a little treat, yet the unique course for the Hughson Supercross was not challenging enough to stop the Lady Mustangs from racing off to win the Hughson Invitational varsity girls title on Sept. 16.

The Lady Mustangs competed against some of the best teams from the Trans-Valley League and some of the Valley Oak League’s top squads on their way to an impressive title on arguably the most difficult course they’ll see this season.

“This was a very challenging course with all those obstacles,” Oakdale head coach Guy Fowler said. “This is one of the reasons I chose to run in this meet because if they can handle these obstacles, they can handle ones that come up in the future.”

Fowler was referring to a mud bog and hay barrels throughout the course, posing challenges for the runners that obviously they will not see again this season.

Oakdale was able to fend off the host Hughson Huskies with a one-point victory in the meet. Oakdale’s combined score of 54 came in just one point ahead of the Huskies, yet it was a big enough margin to garner the victory.

Oakdale was led by Ashlyn Durham who finished in third place overall with a time of 17:04, Sara Aguayo’s seventh place finish and Kristen Brunk, whose time of 18:34 was good for 12^th place overall.

The boys grabbed a fifth place overall finish, led by Brendt Ohe’s sixth place finish in 14:37. Teammate Gavin Smith finished the race in 13^th place (15:05), followed by Bryan Berst’s 18^th place finish in 15:26.

Ohe, Durham and Aguayo all earned medalist honors in the event.

Oakdale will look to continue to push ahead with momentum as the squad heads to Fresno for the Golden Eagle Invitational on Sept. 25.

The team has shown great promise early, but their expectations will require an abundance of effort over the next couple of months.

“I am pleased with everybody’s performance,” Fowler said. “But I think there is still a lot of work to be done and I know the team is up to it.”