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Miners participating in the Old Pueblo Invitational were (from left): Levi Schifferns, Yesenia Arcienega (15th), PatrickLopez (fifth), Tylo Montes, Carlos Salas, Andrea Castaneda (second) and Yasmin Salas (17th). Maria Lopez | SMHS
San Manuel Miner
Andrea Castaneda and Patrick Lopez were again the top Miner runners at the first of two recent invitationals in Tucson.
At the 2nd Annual Desert Solstice Night Cross Country Invitational, which was held at Crooked Tree Golf Course, Miner runners were among 65 teams from divisions one through five. Over 120 female runners competed in the open race, including Esmeralda Zuniga, Mariah Dockum, and Andrea Castaneda, who finished 6th in the event.
Sophomores Yesenia Arcienega and Rebekah Messing ran in the Freshman/Sophomore race.
In the boys’ open race, three Miners placed in the top 50 out of 178 runners. Patrick Lopez finished third while Carlos Salas (47th) and Juan Ortega (46th) also were among the upper third runners.
Last weekend, the Miners competed in the Old Pueblo Invitational at Santa Rita High School with 47 other teams.
Yasmin Salas finished 17th in the freshmen girls’ race and Yesenia Arcienega was 15th in the sophomore girls’ race. Andrea Castaneda took second in the senior race, medaling with a time of 22:42.0.
Lopez medaled in the boys’ senior race, finishing fifth with a time of 18:52.1.
The Miners have a bye this week before traveling to Florence on Sept. 30 to compete in a multi meet.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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