West JV girls win Frogtown Invitational; Mountain House runners place across divisions

West High's junior varsity girls cross country team finished first out of eight teams in the Junior Varsity Small-Large division at the Frogtown Invitational, held Saturday at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds.

Freshman Emily Tran led the Wolf Pack with a first-place overall finish in 13:40 on the 2-mile course. West scored 36 points, ahead of the field. Gizzel Gonzales took fifth (16:19), Juliana Cruz 12th (16:41), Yasmin Acosta 17th (17:03) and Maryam Alradaei 29th (18:03).

Mountain House High senior Thiago Carneiro placed 11th in the Varsity Boys Large 3-mile race in 17:31, part of a field of 156 athletes from 20 teams. West junior Tameem Al-Radaei was seventh in 17:13 as West took fourth as a team with 123 points; Kimball finished ninth at 275, led by senior Emeryk Soto in 29th (18:08).

In the Freshman-Sophomore Girls 2-mile race, Mountain House took second out of seven teams with 49 points, and Tracy High was third at 90. Mountain House sophomore Natalie Mussleman placed eighth out of 83 athletes in 16:13, with teammate Savannah Smud, a freshman, just behind in 12th at 16:16. Tracy High's top finisher was sophomore Emma Gomez in 10th (16:16), followed by freshman McKenzie Nihipali in 11th (16:19).

Mountain House also placed fifth out of nine teams in the Boys Sophomore Large 2-mile race with 124 points, led by Poya Azizi in 22nd (13:25). In the Boys Junior Varsity Small-Large race, West was eighth (215) and Mountain House 12th (307), with Naitik Dhaka taking 61st (14:34) for the Mustangs. Kimball's best JV boys finish came from Agilan Senthil Murugan in 23rd (13:07).

The meet also included a Valley Oak League meet Mountain House attended on Sept. 16 at the Mistlin Sports Complex, where the Mustangs' varsity boys placed fourth out of five teams (43 athletes) in the 5,000 meters and the varsity girls were fourth with 104 points.