Westlake's Cruz twins make their mark at historic Woodbridge Classic

The Westlake girls cross country team is seeing double. 

At the famed, fast, 44th annual Woodbridge Classic in Irvine over the weekend, twin sisters Sabina and Anais Cruz led Westlake to a decisive victory in the Girls Gold Varsity B race, defeating the next-closest team by 81 points. 

Sabina Cruz won the race in 16 minutes, 50.7 seconds — the fastest time in program history and the second fastest time of any local girls cross country runner at Woodbridge this year. 

Two pink singlets flashed to the front of the race just after the gun went off, with Anais Cruz running shoulder to shoulder with her twin sister through the first and second mile markers. Battling a side stitch, Anais Cruz finished ninth in 17:43.8. 

“They are competitors,” Westlake cross country co-head Troy Burns said. “That is something you can’t coach — they just have it.”

The Cruz coming-out party was just the beginning of the fantastic freshman performances at Woodbridge. Fellow Westlake freshman Aria Cinelli was just one spot behind Anais Cruz in 10th place, running 17:44.9 in the Gold Varsity B race. Sophomores Amelie Ortiz (18:20.7, 18th place) and Lily Saul (18:50, 32nd) rounded out the scoring for the Warriors. 

Oak Park High's Kathleen Lambe and Áine Pitillo continued their breakout freshman campaigns in the highest-rated girls race, the Bob Day Sweepstakes. Lambe was 49th in 17:06.5, while Pitillo finished 70th in 17:19. 

They helped power Oak Park to a ninth-place team finish.

Oaks Christian’s Delaney Napierala ran 17:01.6 to win the individual title in the Girls Gold Varsity A race, with Moorpark’s Jenna Murray just behind her in 17:03.8. Oaks Christian freshman Christina Smith had a strong race to finish 26th in 18:16.8. 

The Oaks Christian girls team finished third as a team in the division. 

Agoura’s Dorian Bening earned the title of fastest local boys runner at Woodbridge, placing third in the Boys Rated Varsity race in 14:25.2. Oaks Christian had a 1-2 punch in Vin Krueger (14:39, 11th place) and freshman Sterling White (14:43.1, 14th place). 

“I didn’t really know where my barrier was yet,” Bening said. “I got out there and I just kind of stuck with some people I knew I should be with. I kept with it, and at some point I realized, ‘Hey, I am doing really well.’

“I pushed myself and I paced it a lot better than I have in the past. I turned the final corner and saw the clock. Wow, I have been on a joy ride since. I am so happy.”

Ventura’s top runner was Noah Sloan, who placed 21st in 14:51.7. He was followed closely by Newbury Park’s Micah Dickran, who was 24th in 14:52.7. Agoura’s Lucas Gary was 32nd in 14:57.9 and Ventura’s Brandon Fischer ran 15:00.6 to place 38th. 

Foothill Tech finished runner-up in the Boys Rated Varsity race, falling to Division 3 power West Torrance by just five points. The Dragons placed ahead of fellow local teams in Agoura (12th), Ventura (19th), Newbury Park (21st) and Oaks Christian (33rd).

Junior Viggo Bortolin led the way for Foothill Tech, moving up 14 spots in the final mile to place 15th in 14:44 as his team’s top runner. Asher Field (14:59.6, 35th) and Camden Taylor (15:00.4, 39th) also raced well. 

In the Bob Day Sweepstakes, the highest-rated girls race, Ventura County’s top girls programs clashed. Oak Park finished as the top squad, placing ninth. Ventura was the next best team, placing 28th. 

Ventura senior Aelo Curtis placed 17th in 16:37.2, the fastest time by any girls cross country runner at Woodbridge this season. Ventura sophomores Sophie Nuckols (66th, 17:17.9) and Paola Estrada (172nd, 18:15.6) were also top performers for the Cougars. 

Oak Park’s Tabitha Brown was 48th in 17:05.4, a breakout run for the sophomore, while senior Sophia Perez was 108th in 17:40.2. Sophomores Heleena Barnett (134th, 17:53.4) and Saoirse Boehm (174th, 18:16.8) were the fourth and fifth scorers for Oak Park. 

Newbury Park senior Sophia Grant finished 155th in 18:07.7. 

Simi Valley’s top duo in Cecelia Vasquez (17:13, 7th) and Acacia Rojas (17:30.8, 21st) were the top local finishers in the Girls Rated Varsity girls race. 

It was an Oak Park victory in the Boys Gold Varsity A race, led by sophomore Ari Kalan's 18th-place finish in 15:19.9. Jaiden Chan (15:26, 23rd), Bridger Leith (15:50.5, 48th), Luke Hodges (15:52.7, 50th), and Rafe Andersen (16:00.3, 65th) also scored in the win. 

Moorpark’s up-and-coming junior Zackary Hatch placed 24th in a personal-best time of 15:27.2. 

In the Girls Gold Varsity B race, Agoura’s Reese Tamburro finished sixth in 17:26.8 and Foothill Technology senior Keera Wallace was 21st in 18:22. 

Gavin Leedy of Foothill Technology led all local runners in the Boys Gold Varsity B race with a 27th-place finish in 15:31.7, followed closely by Westlake sophomores Carson Duce (15:32.1, 29th) and Allan Cruz (15:32.3, 30th).

The Channel Islands boys team placed sixth in the Boys Blue Varsity A race, led by senior Uriel Texis. He ran a personal-best time of 14:42.9 to place fourth overall, followed by Mathew Anthony (15:23.9) in 23rd, Sebastian Lopez (15:28.3) in 27th, Diego Salazar (15:47.7) in 51st, and Cruz Luna (16:49.3) in 172nd. 

Thousand Oaks senior Oren Hill won the Boys Red Varsity A race in 15:41, beating out Buena’s Sebastian De Vicente (15:03.3, 4th) and teammate Max Denninghoff (15:22.9, 9th).

In the Girls Red Varsity A race, Thousand Oaks senior Maggie De la Rionda was third in 17:16.2 and teammate Layla Ward was eighth in 17:56.4. 

Royal junior Madison Boucher was sixth in 19:04.7 and Rio Mesa’s Livvy Bautista was 14th in 19:29.4 in the Girls Red Junior/Senior race.

Buena sophomore Dominic de Vicente won the Boys Red Sophomore race in 16:00.2. Teammate Vincent Sandoval was fourth in the Boys Red Senior race in 16:04.9. 

A trio of Newbury Park freshmen went 1-2-3 in the Boys Gold Frosh race. Dylan Warner took first in 16:07.8, followed by Paul Goetze (16:12.2) and Jude Winslow (16:31.3).

In the Girls Gold Frosh race, Newbury Park’s Halle Combe ran 19:18.9 to place fourth overall. Teammate Mira Markowitz was 10th in 20:18.2. 

Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at [email protected]. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Westlake's Cruz twins make their mark at Woodbridge Classic