CROSS COUNTRY: Southwest, Calexico split invitational - Imperial Valley Press

SEELEY — The Southwest High girls and Calexico High boys each won their respective divisions here Saturday morning at the annual Southwest Cross Country Invitational around Sunbeam Lake.

The Calexico Bulldogs also took home second place in the girls’ division, with Imperial High taking third.

Meanwhile, Castle Park High placed second in the boys’ division, with the Southwest Eagles finishing third there.

“We got a good turnout this year,” Southwest coach and invitational organizer Richard Bird said. “Palo Verde made it out this year and so did Castle Park, so we made it to eight teams … It makes you happy, especially with a San Diego team coming down here. Maybe they’ll tell other teams to join us next year.”

In addition to the above-mentioned, the event featured the return of Central Union, Holtville, and Yuma Catholic highs.

Bird was clearly pleased with his girls’ team, who were led once again by sophomore Gaby Sauceda.

“It’s been really nice out here today,” he said. “My girls really want to come back after how they finished last year.”

With a time of 20 minutes and 58 seconds, Sauceda took first place in the girls’ freshman-sophomore division for the three-mile course, and also finished with the fastest overall girls’ time on the morning.

Teammate Iris Valdez finished second (21:27) in the frosh-soph, while fellow Eagle Maruryn Wilde took first (21:19) in the junior-senior class.

Wilde was closely followed by Imperial’s Rebecca Aguilar (22:01).

“It was intense,” Sauceda said. “Honestly I thought it was going to be a lot harder, but we actually all did really well from Southwest … I was impressed. Iris and I latched onto each other and she pushed me a lot.

“We’re all coming together as a family and running really well,” added the recent Imperial Valley Press Athlete of the Week.

The boys were led overall by Calexico’s Jonathan Leon, who took first place in the junior-senior division (16:53), and by Southwest’s Elijah Thompson, who took second (17:08).

Calexico’s Joel Priego finished first in the frosh-soph (17:60), just a hair ahead of Central’s Michael Garcia (17:51).

“I think we did really well,” Leon said. “We thought that we were going to struggle, but at the finish we had one freshman and two sophomores who surprised me very much.

“I think I could’ve done better,” he added, thanking coach David Obeso for pushing him. “I’m going to keep improving throughout the season and make that 15:50.”

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