Summer Fitness and Young Talent on Display at Annual Watermelon Run

The start of the 2013 Watermelon Run

Santa Cruz, CA – The Valley Christian Cross Country team made its annual trek over the hill Saturday for the team’s Watermelon Run, a team time trial held on a 2.1 mile loop through the redwoods at UCSC.  Run on a rolling course it is deceivingly difficult with steady climbs and rapid descents, which makes for an exciting test of technical cross country running and summer fitness. 

The fifth annual Watermelon Run saw record numbers as there were 67 finishers from a motley crew of participants that included current athletes, alumni, parents, siblings and coaches, making this the largest Watermelon Run in its 5 year history!  While temperatures soared (for Santa Cruz standards) reaching the upper 80's it was an exciting day of racing.

It was near miss for sophomore Kailey Eddy who came just two seconds shy of Morgan Lira’s record from 2011.  She was followed by Karen Mac, who ran a huge personal best in 14:50, and Jessica Xu who was all smiles down the home straight in 15:31. Leia Wang had a huge jump finishing in 16:45 along with Morgan Starkey rounding out the Warriors top 5.

Surprising finishes came from a couple tracksters, Nicole Favre (400 meters), Rebekah Bruckner (hurdles) and Elena Bruckner (shot put) had a great run of their own.  Not far behind were amazing runs from a slew of new runners to this year team.  Audrey Chang finished well in her first race while Margret Theaker, Grace Cardona and Allison Cong were the top freshman across the finish.

Rebekah Bruckner looking for something to hurdle!

For the boys Nathan Lynch led the way with the #3 performance all-time finishing in an impressive 12:18.  Working hard all summer Lynch put in the work averaging 60-70 mile weeks through June, July and August.  His consistency this summer has paid off as evidenced improving by more than a minute over last year’s performance.  He was followed by Jeremy Dong, who dipped under the 13 minute barrier, and Jason Li who improved nearly 30 seconds over last year’s run.  Peter Enfantino (13:35) and freshman Yash Patel (13:45) rounded out the top 5 for the boys.  Enfantino improved over 5 minutes from last year’s Watermelon Run!     

Sam Han (13:55) and Tejas Reddy (14:08) also saw big drops in their times over last season rounding out the top 7.  They were followed by a slew of freshman, Jason Baraona, Chiedum Ndili, Newman Hu and Mathew Weeks who all finished around 15 minutes, marking the impressive talent of this year’s incoming class. 

The Warriors officially open up their season Saturday at the Early Bird Invitational at Toro Park in Salinas.

GIRLS 13:35 Kailey Eddy 14:50 Karen Mac 15:31 Jessica Xu 16:45 Leia Wang 17:17 Morgan Starkey 17:23 Nicole Favre 17:34 Megan Gillespie 18:22 Rebekah Bruckner 18:57 Elena Bruckner 19:02 M. Li 19:52 Audrey Chang 20:12 Margret Theaker 20:16 Grace Cardona 20:44 Allison Cong 21:02 Emma Ottum 21:55 Audrey Keaney 22:04 Lydia Van Muckey 22:28 Eva Ottum 22:30 Courtney Nelson 22:37 H. Han 23:01 Shannon Kovach  23:02 S. Bruckner 23:55 B. Kovach  24:06 Katie Osumi 25:26 F. Herrera 25:34 Megan Braun 26:11 Alejandra Washington

BOYS 12:18 Nathan Lynch 12:59 Jeremy Dong 13:08 Jason Li 13:35 Peter Enfantino 13:45 Yash Patel 13:48 Alex Ascencio  13:55 Sam Han 14:08 Tejas Reddy 14:45 Jason Baraona 14:49 Chiedum Ndili 14:59 Newman Hu 15:06 Mathew Weeks 16:03 Inigo Garcia 16:31 Wilson Ye 16:37 Francisco Herrera 16:44 Zachary Garcia 16:49 D. Tarantino 17:20 Ben Staub 17:21 Michael Gallo 17:41 Nico Starink 17:54 Peter Sohn 17:55 Dustin Laucella 18:01 T. Wang 18:05 V. Ten 20:10 Mathew Milner 20:43 Wilson Chung 22:08 Jacob Laucella 23:06 Arjun Doreswamy