Jones and Castillo compete at Junior Olympic Regionals

The two, who were the top boy and girl runners on the Hood River Valley High School varsity cross country team, got a wet and muddy preview of next year’s Mt. Hood Conference district course.

Castillo, a HRVHS sophomore, is currently preparing for the Dec. 3 Footlocker Regional meet in Walnut, Calif. He ran in the intermediate division of the 5,000-meter race on Saturday, finishing in third place with a time of 17:16.

Jones, a rookie runner and a freshman at HRVHS, ran in the 4,000-meter youth division. According to Coach Kristen Uhler, Jones’ fifth place finish wasn’t bad, considering the wet course conditions and her being sick.

For Jones, the run was a tune-up for next weekend’s elite Border Clash, which she qualified for after a 19th place finish at the Oregon 4A state meet last weekend.