HALF MOON BAY – Samantha De La Cruz had a strong finish for the Orestimba High girls cross-country team on the coast on Saturday.

De La Cruz, a junior, and the Warriors competed at the Artichoke Invitational at Half Moon Bay High School. She took 31st place out of nearly 160 runners in the 2.3 miles course, finishing with a time of 15 minutes, 56 seconds.

Warrior teammate Aaliyah Originals, who is a sophomore, also placed by taking 144th as she was clocked at 21:42. Emily Gomez, another sophomore, was 158th at 28:03.

Boys

Joseph Garica, who is also a junior, led the Orestimba boys at the same invitational with an 82nd place finish at 13:57.

Benjamin Cerna, a freshman, took 107th place at 14:18. Emmanuel Garabito, a sophomore, was 128th at 14:54 and Erik Cerna, a freshman, was 197th at 16:32.

More Warriors who placed were Diego Mendoza came through at 203rd at 17:16, Carlos Carranza at 219th at 18:41, Christopher Enriquez 224th at 19:16 and Savir Galvan 228th at an even 20 minutes.

Upcoming invitational

Both Orestimba teams are scheduled to compete at the Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno this Friday and Saturday.

Orestimba has a combined five more meets through the TVL Finals on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Mike Bush is a multimedia journalist who was born and raised in the Stanislaus and Merced County areas. Follow him on X/Twitter @MikeBMultimedia and Instagram @mikebushmedia.