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Members of the Miner Cross Country Team who participated in the Wilcox Invitational. Maria Lopez | SMHS
Medalists at the Wilcox Invitational are from left Juan Ortega,Andrea Castaneda and Patrick Lopez. Maria Lopez | SMHS
San Manuel Miner
The San Manuel Boys’ cross country team placed fifth out of ten teams at the 26th Annual Wilcox Invitational last week.
“The team trained hard, (running) plenty of hill courses to get ready for this meet,” San Manuel head coach Maria Lopez said. “They fared well against the competition.”
Although the girls’ squad did not have enough runners to qualify for points, several of them did well individually.
Medalists for the Miners included Andrea Castaneda (4th – 21:40.65), Patrick Lopez (9th – 17:41.72), and Juan Ortega (8th – 17:42.38). All three medalists recorded personal record times at the meet.
Three other Miners’ runners who achieved personal record times were Carlos Salas, Colton Stratton, and Jessica Lopez.
The Miners will compete next at the Safford Invitational on October 8.
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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