Morro Bay, CA — Coach O always does a great write-up on each of the team's races. Please check out TeamPages for meet and practice information, writeups, and more. https://www.teampages.com/teams/1063519-Los-Osos-Cross-Country-cross-country-running-team-website/announcements Morro Invitation Write-up from Coach: The Covid pandemic caused many disruptions in our lives, most far more serious than high school sports. We approached the 2020 season with great excitement, loaded with the best boys team the school has ever seen and team numbers expected to be around 50. Shutdowns occurred and cross country never happened in the fall…no meets, no practices, and no overnight trips. It has been slow coming back, the numbers are still down, but a real bright spot returned. A mainstay in the Grizzlies’ schedule since 2006, our traditional kickoff meet at Morro Bay has come back and it was a great success. Back in the day, this was the incentive meet to come to summer practices, and it was an effective incentive. Until our numbers return, I guess we will still make it an incentive meet…an incentive to make the team before school begins. There were changes this time…no bus, no Motel 6, but what didn’t change is what a fun time it is, a chance to beat the heat and bring the team together in a way that going to a Saturday morning meet can’t. Our caravan was 5 strong as we battled some traffic before breaking in Buellton for lunch. We continued to the motel, checking in, and heading out on a short run to look over the course and get some intel on the sand situation the athletes would face the next day. The kids had fun on the beach for a while before we headed back to clean up and head to San Luis Obispo for dinner, where they had many great options. Back to the rooms for sleep before an early wake-up to head to the high school. Breakfast was available and we readied to race. For some, it was another day at the option, for others, this was the first taste of competition. In general, we raced really well, facing schools we never see at home, which is always nice. We supported each other and that is always great to see. The varsity girls kicked things off with excellent pack running. From first to fifth, the scoring gap was only 36 seconds, and that was the key to the team finishing 4th out of the 24 schools with full teams. Haley Jenson and Jenna Summers led the way and now we work on getting that pack faster and moving up in races. It was a great start ladies! The varsity boys are not going to have that scoring gap but much of that is due to Noah Chairez being that good. Noah ran a solid race, finishing 8th overall with a time of 16:05, which ranks him 6th all-time for Grizzlies at this meet. There are a lot of variables with this course and that is why Morro Bay High School doesn’t keep course records or rankings. While this is a flat course, most of it is on the slowest surfaces…beach sand obviously, which simulates hills, and grass (see Red Hill), and the distance is always changing based on tides and placement of the lifeguard tower, which the school doesn’t control. The point is, it’s a slow course…I believe they announced the distance at 2.63 miles this year. A top 10 finish in a varsity race is outstanding. Matthew Ruiz and Dominic Skiles followed Chairez with solid races as the boys finished 7th out of 28 teams. Highlights from other races included Emmery Mitchell running 5th in the freshman race to medal in her first race ever. Adrian Marquez matched that feat in the boys freshman race, finishing 7th. Sydney Oravets medaled in the JV race while Jonathan Eakle was our top finisher in the boys JV race. Good racing, good company, and a great trip! Of course these trips don’t happen without a lot going on behind the scenes. We saved $3000 by driving and not taking a half-full coach, but that required drivers, so a big thank you to the Jenson and Chairez families for stepping up to take kids. A big shout out to the Johnson and Gasparian families for the assist on the road, and the Simon’s for handling our breakfast. A big thank you to our booster club, who through their organization of fundraising, paid for the rooms. Also, thank you to all the families that made the trip to support your athletes…they may not say it, but they appreciate your support and so do the coaches. Thank you to the kids for listening, being on time, and behaving yourself…without that, these trips don’t happen. Next up is Woodbridge on Friday and for those new to cross country, you will see the other end of the spectrum for meets. Complete Results: Boys Varsity (7th of 28 teams; 206 total runners): 8. Noah Chairez – 16:05 (#6 mark all-time); 42. Matthew Ruiz – 17:34; 46. Dominic Skiles – 17:40; 59. Maverick Chamberlin – 18:03; 79. JJ Johnson – 18:33; 83. Jacob Winter – 18:41; 139. Ben Gasparian – 20:09 Girls Varsity (4th out of 24 teams; 174 total runners): 29. Haley Jenson – 21:09; 31. Jenna Summers – 21:15; 33. Hannah Hassan – 21:20; 47. Evelyn Simon – 21:41; 51. Brigitte Sanchez – 21:47 Boys JV (154 total runners): 45. Jonathan Eakle – 19:48; 59. Braydon Cox – 20:13; 73. Kyle Thomas – 20:31 Girls JV (87 total runners): 14. Sydney Oravets – 24:17; 39. Briana Arias – 26:48 Boys Frosh (91 total runners): 7. Adrian Marquez – 13:27; 26. Troy Trask – 14:33; 40. Nathan Lee – 15:58 Girls Frosh (61 total runners): 5. Emmery Mitchell – 17:54