Despite the effects of the late-afternoon heat, the Patterson High boys and girls cross country teams opened their seasons Aug. 29 at T.W. Patterson Sports Park with matching victories against visiting Orestimba High of Newman.

”Things are falling into place for us,” said Patterson coach Dave Klein. “We’re finding out where we are as compared with where we started — we look a lot better than we did two weeks ago.”

The Patterson varsity boys soundly defeated the Orestimba Warriors, 50-15.

Nathan Stanton paced the Tigers in the 3.1-mile race, claiming a first-place finish with a time of 18 minutes, 33 seconds. Teammates Ben Vega (20:13), Anthony Venegas (20:24), Julius Flores (21:37), Dylan Christiansen (21:93), Joey Howard (23:10), Samuel DeLeon (23:14) and Dylan Halland (23:18) rounded out the top nine finishers.

“Our times are getting down where we want them to be,” said Patterson coach Joe Aguilar. “We just need to keep improving and keep our times closer together.”

The Patterson varsity girls team earned the top three spots in the 3.1-mile race while besting Orestimba 42-17.

Lupita Ventura (24:53) finished first. Alejandra Carrasco (25:49) and Lisa Vossekuil (26:22) placed second and third, respectively.

Patterson’s Jenevy Esqueda (29:27), Stephany Esqueda (29:35) and Carina Sotelo (31:52) also ran well.

“Our times are beginning to look competitive,” Klein said. “(Our team) looks much brighter now that we are getting some miles under us.”

The Patterson junior varsity boys and girls teams also displayed solid performances.

The JV boys had three of the top five finishers in the 2-mile race — Sean Hicks (13:40), Ivan Barbontin (15:13) and Christian Barba (16:42) — for a 41-20 win.

Patterson’s JV girls were led in the 2-mile race by Jolani Reynoso (19:45), Adriana Rodriguez (20:29) and Janette Guerrero (25:23). Orestimba sent too few runners to score the meet.

“I was encouraged with the results,” Klein said. “I’d still like to see some improvements in our times, but I’m happy with the overall effort.”

Contact Marc Aceves at 892-6187, ext. 28, or marc@pattersonirrigator.com.