The Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, hosted by Woodbridge High School, has been a notable invitational for years that draws some of the best high school runners from all across the country. This year, the meet was hosted over the course of Friday, September 16 and Saturday, September 17 and had a very large turnout.

The invitational consisted of the normal varsity, junior varsity, senior, junior (and so on) races, as well as ‘rated’ and then ‘sweepstakes’ races for top-level athletes looking for some competition. Luis Grijalva of Armijo High School won the boys’ sweepstakes race with a three-mile time of 13:58 and Brie Oakley from Grandview High School won the girls’ in 15:53. Redlands East Valley’s Elias Opsahl placed 24th in the sweepstakes race with a time of 14:48.

Anthony Botello, a sophomore from Redlands East Valley says, “I just had to take notice of your surroundings and use that to your advantage.” Travis Longfellow, a freshman from REV, says, “It was a really great experience for the whole team, and it was really fun to run and watch our teammates race. It was a huge race and there was a lot of competition… [it] was also a fast run for a lot of people. I’m excited for the rest of the season.”