The Palo Alto High School boys’ varsity cross-country team placed 12th out of 24 teams at the Monterey Bay Invitational meet at Toro Park in Salinas on Friday.

Nikolai Solgaard (’12) got 21st place and first for Paly with a time of 17:07, followed by Matan Geller (’13), Ricky Estrada (’12), Andre Gouyet (’12), William Hall (’12), Sam Carilli (’12) and Corso Rosati (’12). Solgaard, Hall and Carilli all felt good about their times, but thought this was a harder race than Crystal Springs, their last race. Hall placed 88th and Carilli placed 89th with respective times of 19:13 and 19:14.

“I raced about the same as Crystal [Springs]…I like Crystal better, but that may be because I know Crystal better,” Solgaard said.

Carilli added, “This one [Toro] was harder [than Crystal], the hills are murderous.”

Paly races once more at Toro Park on Nov. 11 for Central Coast Sectionals (CCS), and once more at Crystal Springs on Nov. 2, also for CCS.

The Vikings’ next race is Oct. 26 at Gunn High School for City Championships.