The ever-growing Middle/High School cross country team and their families gathered for a memorable banquet.
This year’s annual Cross Country banquet on November 19 not only served as an opportunity to recognize the many hours of hard work put in by each individual Middle High School runner but also the program’s growth into a force to be reckoned with.
The program’s squads — varsity, JV and middle school boys and girls — are getting closer to fielding a minimum complement of team members to compete in scoring. (Cross country scoring counts each team’s top five of seven runners with the lower team score placing a team higher in the standings at a cross country meet.)
But the runners are also getting faster.
Ayana Jaimez-Solorio, only a 9th-grader, went the farthest in the post regular season of any Lucerne Valley runner in memory. Ayana, who is one of the dynamic Jaimez-Solorio twins — brother Victor, the top runner on the varsity boy’s team, has several national age-group track records under his belt — took 4th place at the C.I.F. Finals at Mt. Sac and last Saturday placed 44th of nearly 200 runners at State.
Coach Joe Gallardo shared several stories of runners who showed special heart. In 8th grade Derby Demke was running in the 26, 27-minute range for three miles. He told her she could run in the low 20s. “She said, ‘Coach, you’re crazy. I can’t do it.’” But Derby put in the work and now as a 9th grader she is on the verge of breaking 20 minutes. “And this just goes to show that you can do anything you want to do if your mind to it,” Coach Joe said.
Derby also had one of the most dramatic finishes. She was battling down the stretch at League Finals in Big Bear for the last spot that would send her to C.I.F. prelims. She gave her all, but was just hundredths of a second off in a photo finish.
Another girls high school runner, Sarai Rodriguez, showed up early at this past summer’s workouts. At first, the most she could run was about a quarter of a lap at a time, but she kept at it and improved her first 3-mile run from around 45 minutes down to 37 minutes. “There was a few times she was injured and I kept her back, but she came to every single practice.”
Varsity Girls, from left: Derby Demke, Sarai Rodriguez, and Ayana Jaimez-Solorio.
BOYS HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES
This season’s top boys runner was 9th-grader Victor Jaimez-Solorio. “This individual has so much talent. He has a gift for running,” Coach Joe said. His top time for the 3-mile was 16:57.
Dutch Demke has shown a passion for running since he was a student logging laps at Lucerne Valley Elementary School. Now a junior, Dutch is the second fastest Mustang running with a time in the low 18 minutes. “Next year we’re going to be running in the 17s and 16s without a doubt. Great job, Dutch.”
Rounding out the boys varsity squad are Mustang baseball star Leon Willoughby, who made a huge improvement this to 21:43; Gabriel Garcia, who was well over 30 minutes at the beginning of the season but made a quantum leap down to 22 minutes; and Aaron Pinedo, who dropped his best down to almost 20 flat.
“Nobody gave us a chance this year,” Coach Joe said about the Mustang boys team. “People used to laugh at us, but they’re not laughing at us anymore.”
Varsity boys, from left: Aaron Pinedo, Gabriel Garcia, Leon Willoughby, Dutch Demke and Victor Jaimez-Solorio.
MIDDLE SCHOOL RUNNERS
Coach Guillermo Betancourt had a lot to say about the Middle School girls and boys cross country runners. A large group, the Colt runners have shown tremendous heart and they provide great depth for the Middle High School cross country program with the future looking bright. The young athletes showed tremendous improvement throughout the season.
Middle School girls who were recognized: Kiley Sugg, who ran the fast two-miles of the group in 14:36, and Aris Beck, Isabella Bedolla, Elisa Salazar-Jimenez and Dixie Demke.
Middle school boys: Skyler Leary had a best of 12:42 for two miles, which was the number three fastest time in the Cross Valley League. That time, Coach Guillermo said, was event faster than the 12:53 ran by current No. 2 varsity runner Dutch Demke back in 2022. Other members of the promising Middle School contingent are Robert Shaw, Malachi Sugg, Ryder Rodriguez, Oscar Apolinar, and Israel Apolinar.
Coach Betancourt and his wife created a comprehensive photo slide show of the season, which was played prior to the awards. The Davalos family cooked tacos for banquet guests.
Middle School girls, from left: Dixie Demke, Elisa Salazar-Jimenez, Isabella Bedolla, Aris Beck, Kiley Sugg
