While there were no team or individual championships produced by East County qualifiers at this year’s state cross country championship meet Nov. 27 in Fresno, there were quite a few satisfying finishes to the season.
Grossmont, the reigning Division II boys champions, placed ninth as a team while junior Ian Rosen placed seventh among the 188 runners entered in the race.
Rosen, the Foothillers’ top finisher at the preceding San Diego Section finals, timed 15:37.2 as the section’s top place-finisher. The time was a personal record for the 5K distance.
Grossmont’s other scorers included junior Russell Blakely (32nd in 16:00.6), junior Joshua Edwards (76th in 16:29.5), senior Kei Okura (95th in 16:43.0) and junior Mason Coyle (115th in 16:52.7).
Non-scorers Miles Ramey, a junior, finished 186th in 18:58.6 while freshman Brian Stevens finished 187th in 19:07.2.
The Foothillers tallied 254 points in the race, placing immediately arrears of eighth-place Ventura (243 points) and ahead of 10th place Danville Monte Vista (258 points).
Mt. Carmel, the San Diego Section runner-up, finished 13th in the team standings with 336 points. Scripps Ranch, the third place section team, finished 22nd among the 23 scoring teams with 581 points.
Steele Canyon had two individual qualifiers in the Division II boys race. Junior Dominic Rizzo finished 73rd in 16:28.8 while junior Bradley Bell finished 91st in 16:39.8.
Steele Canyon finished fourth as a team at the section finals.
El Capitan qualified as a team in the Division III boys race as the No. 3 team at the section finals. The Vaqueros finished 22nd out of 25 scoring teams at the state meet.
Top placing individuals in the 207-deep race included sophomore Austin Boinus (86th, 16:41.2), senior Dominic Villaruel (97th, 16:50.0), senior Logan Powers (123rd, 17:10.3), junior Elias Rudolph (142nd, 17:27.5), freshman Jonny Webb (186th, 18:17.1), junior Trey Dixon (194th, 18:35.8) and junior Delson Houser (201st, 18:56.8).
The times at the state meet were personal records for Boinus, Villaruel, Powers, Rudolph and Webb.
Section champion Hilltop placed 11th in the team standings while section runner-up Cathedral Catholic was 13th.
Liberty Charter junior Micah Sanchez and Liberty Charter senior Bethany Mapes both qualified as individuals to this year’s state meet.
Mapes finished sixth among the 192 finishers in the Division V girl race in 18:38.7 while Sanchez placed ninth among the 202 finishers in the Division V boys race with a personal record time of 15:42.0.
Francis Parker senior Kenan Pala won the Division V boys race in 14:51.0. He went on to place second at last weekend’s Eastbay West Regional meet at Mt. San Antonio to qualify for Saturday’s Eastbay national championship meet at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.
Pala and Santa Fe Christian senior Mark Trammell (third at the Division V boys state finals) will both represent the West team at Saturday’s elite finals after Trammell finished eighth at the regional qualifier.
The top 10 placers advanced from the regional.
Saturday’s webcast begins at approximately 8 a.m. for the event. For more information, visit the website at www.eastbayxc.com as well as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
