Former Del Norte Warrior Dylan Rodriquez is adapting well to college competition.
Rodriguez and his College of the Redwoods teammates traveled to Redding over the weekend to compete at the Shasta Invitational in cross country and it was a good day for the freshman, who took first in the men’s race.
Rodriguez completed the four-mile course in a time of 21 minutes, 8.7 seconds, less than two seconds faster than Shasta’s Noah Gaddy in second.
As a team, Redwoods scored 42 points and placed second to Butte (28), the No. 3 in Northern California, with Shasta (62) rounding out the top three.
“The team has shown great improvement and is moving up on Butte,” CR head coach Reed Elmore said, adding that “On a good day we could get them.”
The next best CR runner was RedSky Waheneka, who finished eighth in a time of 21:44, followed by Gavin Falleri in ninth in a time of 21:48.
Eureka’s Chase Jimenez also impressed for Redwoods and placed 11th with a PR time of 21:59, while Santino Thomas also set a new PR and finished 13th in a time of 22:09, Phoenix Davis was 16th, Eureka’s Sean Morris was 19th and Arcata’s Levi Browne was 22nd.
Former Fortuna Husky Madison Ruiz led the way for the Redwoods women, who scored 30 points and placed second to Butte (26).
Ruiz placed second overall and finished the three-mile course in a time of 20:19.1, with her former Huskies teammate Brida Lester finishing just one spot behind her in third in a time of 20:35.2.
Both of those times were PRs.
Former Eureka Logger Rathlin Hemmingsen also impressed for Redwoods and placed sixth in a time of 21:07, while Del Norte’s Zakayla Robinson was eighth (22:14) and Candace Cohoon placed 11th (22:30)
The CR men are now ranked No. 7 in NorCal, while the CR women are No. 9.
The top seven teams will qualify for the state championships.
