From the sports archives: Carlmont High School cross country sensation Ryan Wilson a bolt from the blue

Carlmont junior Ryan Wilson never ran competitively prior to last season. Now, with a run of 16 minutes, 8 seconds Saturday at Crystal Springs, Wilson is the Peninsula Athletic League boys’ cross country champion.

The naturally athletic junior topped the field by eight seconds, with Hillsdale senior Alex Tait and Menlo-Atherton sophomore Luke Scandlyn finishing two-three respectively in a photo finish, each with times of 16:16.

Wilson had never taken first place in any varsity race previous to Saturday. Carlmont head coach John Lilygren said he thought Wilson had a shot at topping the field, but in his heart of hearts thought it was unlikely.

“It was on the radar,” Lilygren said. “But honestly I thought the kid from M-A was going to win and [Wilson] was going to be second or third.”

The son of a triathlon competitor, Wilson grew up playing soccer and baseball. He had demonstrated great speed at both, but only decided to run cross country at the start of his sophomore year at the request of friends like Amaury Avat who ran for the team.

“I didn’t think I’d be good in it,” Wilson said. “I was decently fast but not that much faster than other people.”

Wilson hit his stride Saturday, staying with the front of the pack until he took the lead on the 2.95-mile course just before the second mile marker. By the time he cleared the final turn within eyeshot of the finish line 400 yards out, he was running all alone.

“On the last turn with 400 (yards) left I didn’t really have anyone behind me,” Wilson said. “So I knew I had it. I just had to close it in.”

Half Moon Bay claims team title

As the Carlmont boys’ team gathered following the conclusion of the race, the Scots’ top five finishers—sophomore Justin Hsu (sixth place, 16:24); sophomore Kyle Dimick (13th, 16:50); sophomore Eric Jackson (20th, 17:00); and Amaury Avat (24th, 17:15) thought they had done enough to win the team title.

But then Scots teammate Caleb Metzler approached the Carlmont tent like the town crier to announce Half Moon Bay had in fact won its second championship in as many years.

For HMB — a team that graduated much of last year’s championship lineup, including three seniors finishing in the top four — it was an emotional victory after not knowing how the team would stack up entering into the year.

“Tears,” HMB junior Jared Mansukhani said of his reaction to the title. “It was a surprise to me. Throughout the season it’s been hard for us. We lost a lot of our top seniors after last season. So, it’s been hard. We had to keep pushing.”

Manshukhani took fourth place with a time of 16:21. The Cougars’ top five finished fourth through 21st, with junior Natan Cristol-Deman taking seventh (16:29); sophomore Nicholas Moore taking ninth (16:36); sophomore James McCeachen taking 16th (16:55); and senior Sam Reynolds taking 21st (17:03).

The clinching run was Reynolds’, as the Cougars’ lone senior crossed the finish line 12 seconds ahead of Carlmont’s fifth finisher.

“The whole race I was just going after Carlmont and M-A guys,” Reynolds said.