Even with a few top runners preparing for the big Desert Twilight meet Sept. 28, the DVCC varsity still finished sixth out of 29 schools at the Ojo Rojo Lions Invitational in Chandler on Saturday, Sept. 22. Zach Smith (17:10), Austin Tielke (17:12), Mitchell Bogushefsky (17:12), Xavier Esparza (17:13) and Andrew Hermanski (17:19) finished in the top 50, and Kyle Havriliak (17:31, 57th) and Dylan Smith (17:40, 65th) weren’t far behind out of 204 runners in the 3.15-mile race.
In the junior varsity race, junior Kyle Herrig took home the first-place plaque in 17:45. Nick Terreri (fourth), Josh Geiger (sixth), Chris Tang (14th) and Zever McGary (15th) all medaled. Dylan Quintanar, Zack Hubbard, Connor Finuf and Darren DeLaRiva earned ribbons.
The freshmen dominated again, with D.J. Harris (17:45) and Chris O’Brien (17:51) sweeping the top two spots. Jessen Harbertson (ninth) also medaled. Matt Anciaux (11th), Anthony Ramirez (13th), Jackson Snedecor (16th), Nathan Chan (17th) and Joe Kretschmar (22nd) won ribbons.