By Ray Hamill — Fortuna freshman Juan Ornelas continued to impress in his first season of varsity cross country action on Wednesday, winning for the second time in two meets.

After placing seventh in the league opening race two weeks ago, Ornelas has quickly established himself as one of the top runners in the H-DNL after posting back-to-back wins.

Competing at Hiller Park in McKinleyville this week, the Huskies standout beat the field by 20 seconds, crossing the finish line in a time of 16 minutes, 28.66 seconds.

The time was a new PR for Ornelas for a 5K race.

Eureka sophomore Ryder Bullman placed second in a time of 16:47.32, barely edging senior teammate Everett Docherty (16:47.50).

The Loggers had three runners in the top four, with Chase Jimenez (17:16.31) following Docherty  across the finish line and Arcata’s Caden Demers (18:19.94) in fifth.

Arcata had six of the top 11 finishers and edged Eureka for the team win, 36-40.

Fortuna was third best with 64 points.

Arcata’s Parker Pierson was sixth on the day, followed by teammates Christopher Bogar and Rowan Magnuson in seventh and eighth, respectively.

Del Norte’s Luke Padilla was ninth, and Arcata’s Sebastian Amaro was 10th.

Docherty and Jimenez were the only two seniors to place in the top 11.

The next league meet will be hosted by Eureka next Wednesday.

The H-DNL girls were also in action at Hiller Park on Wednesday, with Eureka’s Claire Gast taking the win for the second time in two league races this fall.

Photo by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com