MODESTO – The Sierra boys finished second and the Timberwolves girls were fifth Saturday in the 10th Annual Sierra Cross Country Invitational at Legion-Tuolumne Regional Park in Modesto.

Sierra’s Jesse Hurtado led the Timberwolves boys, finishing the 5,000-meter course in 16:49. 

“Everyone took off pretty fast,” Hurtado said. “I was kind of expecting that.

“I was able to hang with the pack for the first two miles and then those guys just started moving.  It was a crazy race, but for the first race of the season, it went pretty well.”

Hurtado improved nearly a minute from his best time last season.

“Last year as a freshman I ran a 17:35,” Hurtado said. “This year making the jump down to 16:49 as a sophomore, that’s a pretty amazing thing to do.”

Teammate Arish Bala was three seconds behind Hurtado and finished seventh in 16:52.

“The first mile was around 5:10,” Bala said. “That was almost a state-finals pace.

“Jesse and I kept together. Anytime we got separated I worked my way back up. It was a fast race.”

Sabas Montes was 12th (17:30) for the Timberwolves and Lionel Orhiere was 14th (17:34). 

Sierra sophomore Megan Oblin ran a personal best at 20:22.

“This was a PR,” Oblin said. “I came out really strong and toward the second mile I kind of got tired and then I picked it back up the third mile.”

The Lathrop boys finished 10th and was led by Juan Diaz who finished 25th (17.53). Maria Soto was 15th (21:19) for the Spartans girls who finished 14th.