Johnny Slone highlights men's, women's cross country fast start
The Moorpark College men's and women's cross country teams have kicked off the 2022 campaign, and Johnny Slone is leading the pack.
Slone won the 2022 Moorpark Invitational in 21 minutes, 21 seconds (4-mile race), which was a 24-second improvement from last year's time. The time led his team to a 2nd-place finish in the season opener for the Raiders.
Bryce Gardhouse (22:02) and Marcuse Fehlman (22:19) placed 7th and 9th, respectively, to round out the top three spots for Moorpark. Fourth for the Raiders was Wyatt Tack (22:51) with a 1:24 second improvement and 5th was freshman Diego Rivera, who placed 17th overall with a time of 23:09.
Most improved from last year was Max Kirkhope. His time of 23:34 (22nd) was a 3:30 improvement! Teammates Gabe Sanders (23:21) and Sean McArthur (23:36) were 20th and 23rd in the field of 61 athletes.
The women were led by Vanessa Avila who placed 3rd in a time of 20:13. Teammate Alianna Tapia was close behind with her 6th-place finish (20:44). Both ladies are graduates of Fillmore High School.
UC RIVERSIDE INVITATIONAL
The Lady Raiders raced their first 6K race of the season against a large field (265 women) of university athletes. Alianna Tapia led the Raiders with her time of 23:41. Vanessa Avila was seven seconds behind finishing in 23:48.
The men competed as a team in the Open 8k race and placed 5th overall in a field of 23 teams. Bryce Gardhouse was the top finisher, placing 11th in a time of 25:11. Matt Russell finished 19th (25:23). Johnny Slone, who was leading the race at the 2k mark, finished 28th with his time of 25:44, a 1:08 improvement from last year.
Rounding out the top four spots for the Raiders was Marcus Fehlman who placed 44th (26:05), a 1-minute improvement from last year's time. Taking the 5th and 6th spots for the Raiders were Sean McArthur (27:02) and Diego Rivera (27:20). Max Kirkhope shaved more than his legs! He shaved 3 minutes, 10 seconds off last year's time to place 7th for the Raiders in 27:34.