Woodside sophomore fronts ‘W’ at Artichoke Invitational

That changed Saturday when Schultz finished at the front of the pack in the boys’ Varsity Large Schools race at HMB, hitting the tape with a first-place time of 12 minutes, 14 seconds, recording the fourth fastest time of the day on the 2.3-mile course. What’s more, Schultz led Woodside to the team championship in the Varsity Large Schools race.

“This kid ... his workouts have been phenomenal,” Woodside head coach Nate Bowman said. “He’s doing stuff in his workouts that I did in like college. And we’ve been waiting for this kind of breakthrough. ... [Saturday] was that race. He was loose, he was in command, he finally put one together where we were like: ‘We’re on our way.’”

Woodside had seven finishers in the top 20 with 59 participants in the race, and the sophomores did most of the heavy lifting. Sophomore Augie Lucas placed fifth (12:56); junior Kai Melosh sixth (12:56); sophomore Kgoshi Mothokakobo 13th (13:13); and freshman Calvin Peterson 14th (13:13). Sophomore Daniel Vierra wasn’t far behind in 15th (13:15), while senior Michael Tellis took 19th (13:21).

“Our sophomores, the guys we had as freshmen last year, the culture in that group is phenomenal,” Bowman said. “They just have this really cool vibe about them. A really great energy with those kids, and I think they just got the word out.”

In the boys’ Varsity Small School, Nueva senior Ryan Fitzpatrick recorded the fastest time of the day to take first place in 11:32. Nueva settled for fifth place in the team element, while Northgate-Walnut Creek took first place, and Mills, paced by a ninth-place finish from sophomore Patrick Jahutka (12:33) claimed second as a team.

In the girls’ Varsity Large Schools race, Woodside took third place, led by senior Pearl Marsyla’s sixth-place finish (15:21). Castro Valley took first place in the team element. In the girls’ Varsity Small Schools race, Northgate took the team title while Mills placed seventh. Mills senior Chloe Amayun was the top county finisher in the event, taking 14th place (15:08).

The Woodside boys were feeling opportunistic with two top-flight large schools running shorthanded. Alisal took second place in the team element of the Varsity Large Schools field, but was without its top runner in senior Fernando Herrera. Menlo-Atherton competed without its top runners, including junior Evan Chopra and senior Cason Mitchell.

“We always knew there was going to be a chance for us to be solid with a guy like [Schultz],” Bowman said.

Two weeks previous at the prestigious Woodbridge Classic in Irvine, Woodside ran the Red Varsity Boys race, a different event than either Alisal or Menlo-Atherton. Schultz took 20th place (15:38), but was the third fastest sophomore, with the Wildcats taking 10th place in the 21-team field.

Bowman said his team was disappointed with the result. But he wasn’t.

“They were super bummed, and I sat them down and said: ‘If this is a bad race, we’re on our way,’” Bowman said.

Schultz arrived among the Woodside greats Saturday. His time in at the Artichoke Invite was the third fastest on the course in Woodside history, with only Ethan Brooks (12:06) and Max Hohendorf (12:13) running it faster in 2021. The cutoff for the top 25 all-time in meet history is 12:11, but Schultz’s time was one of the fastest ever for a sophomore. Castro Valley’s Ben Eversole is the only sophomore in the top 25, running the course in 12:07, tied for 20th all-time, in 2008.

The Wildcats still have their work cut out for them in the Peninsula Athletic League this season. Woodside took seventh place in the team element Sept. 17 at PAL #1 at HMB, with Menlo-Atherton running away with first place, Mills taking second, and Carlmont third.

“We are hoping to be a little bit of a spoiler, and maybe sneak into the top three by the end of the season,” Bowman said.