Cross country

The Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) cross country team made it far throughout the season, ending it with a successful run. 

On the girls side, the top runners were Becca Walker ‘24 with a three mile personal record (PR) of 19:42, next to Keera Wallace ‘26 with a PR of 19:42, and Kiersten Falat ‘23 with a PR of 20:52. On the boys side, Jonah Billings ‘23 with a PR of 15:09 and Elliot with a PR of 15:45, and Chance Leandro ‘25 with a PR of 16:01. 

Throughout the year, the team competed at a multitude of courses. “UCSB is the most beautiful meet every year,” stated coach Dinkler. Along with the Clovis Invitational, which is the home of the state meet, the team ran well there overall. The Central Park Invite meet at Huntington Beach is a team favorite every year. 

Mount Sac. is the home of CIF prelims and finals. The girls and boys team took 12 runners and made their way into CIF prelims at Mount Sac. The girl’s season ended at CIF prelims, while the boys team advanced to CIF state where they placed 9th overall. The season ended for the boys after state, having to say goodbye to seniors Theo Kayser ‘23, Erik De la Trinidad ’23, Dustin Ruano ’23, Daniel Kovalski ’23, Nick Avelar ’23 and Billings. The girls had to say goodbye to Caitlyn O’neil ‘23, and Falat. 

Coach Dinkler reflected on the season, “Both teams competed very well. As individuals, they made significant progress in their ability to compete. Next year, we hope to get the girls team to state. Also, the boys scoring in the top 10 in state was significant, along with the fact that out of the top 5 scoring boys that placed in state, 3 are coming back, so we have relatively young runners.”

The team looks forward to next year, where both the boys and the girls are hoping to advance onto the CIF state meet.