Riverbank’s varsity cross country teams competed at the Woodbridge Invitational in Norco (Orange County) on Friday night.

“The races were at 8:40 p.m. and 9:52 p.m. so it was nice and cool, and it was great racing under the lights at the Silverlake Sports Complex,” explained head coach Monte Wood. “The course was completely flat, three miles, and it was nice and cool, so we had some fast times.”

Chris Martinez, Christian Bolanos, and Carlos Aguilera all brought home medals for the boys.

“I thought that both teams ran really well. We improved by an average of over two minutes from their 5k times,” noted Wood. “But the course is shorter and easier. We are young though and really improving.”

None of the girls won a medal, the coach added, but he said all of them improved their times and ran really well. Valeria Aguiniga was their number one runner at the race and she ran a time of 21:03. Anastasia Toscano and Angelina Moreno also showed great improvement by running over three minutes faster.

“I was really proud of them for running so well after a tough TVL race two weeks before,” Wood said. “It was a really good bonding experience for the young teams, so I am really excited and optimistic for both teams for the rest of the year and even next year.”