Torrey Pines boys cross country takes CIF title

The Torrey Pines High School cross country team recently dominated the CIF San Diego Section championships over a challenging 3-mile course at Morley Field with the girls and boys squads both advancing to the state championships on Nov. 26 at Fresno’s Woodward Park.

The Torrey Pines boys won the Division 1 CIF championship while the girls finished in second.

Senior Ryan Thomas won the Division 1 race with a time of 15:08.9, using his half-mile speed to pull away from his season-long rival El Camino’s Omar Reyes. He won the race by five seconds and erupted in emotion as he crossed the finish line.

Torrey Pines cross country Head Coach Jacob Feiring was super excited by his team’s top finishes.

Ryan Thomas leads Omar Reyes of El Camino, his main rival all season. Ryan used his 800-meter speed to overtake Omar at the end of the race to take the championship.

(Dirk-Uwe Bartsch)

“On the girls side, we knew all season it would be a close between Del Norte, Canyon Crest Academy and Torrey Pines,” Feiring said. “The Division 1 girls teams in San Diego were very strong this year. All three teams were ranked in the top 10 for the state, but only two get the opportunity to advance to the state meet. Fortunately, we were able to come away with a second-place finish behind a very good Del Norte team.

“Our team goal for the state meet is to improve upon our seventh place finish from last year’s state championship, and hopefully land on the podium with a top three finish.”

The top Falcon finishers in the Division 1 race were Scarlett Taylor in sixth place and Sammi Dorostkar in 10th.

On the boys side, Feiring said there was less stress about making the state meet as the Falcons had been ranked top in the county throughout the season. However, just like the girls side, only two teams advance.

“We knew Westview was coming on strong towards the end of the season and they would likely be our top competition in the Division 1 race,” Feiring said. “Fortunately, we executed the race well and took home the victory.”

Feiring said the boy’s team goal for the state meet is to improve upon last year’s 20th-place finish, again aiming for a spot among the top three.

The second place Torrey Pines girls cross country team with Head Coach Jacob Feiring and Assistant Coach Julie Ott.

(Amy Cheselnik)