The San Diego Section cross country championship meet awards team and individual honors in five enrollment divisions across two gender fields following the completion of the league championship season.
This year’s meet took place Saturday, Nov. 16, at Balboa Park’s Morley Field, a hallowed running venue for section harriers. First-place individuals in each race are recognized as division champions while the lowest scoring teams in each race are recognized as division champions.
Both boys and girls run 2.96 miles on the same course.
The top 20 place-finishers in each race receive medals — the top 10 finishers are recognized as the First Team All-CIF.
The gargantuan event also serves as a qualifier for the California state championship meet Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Qualifying for the state meet is a bit more complicated. Each division and gender race has its own criteria based on historic success by local runners.
In the boys races the following number of teams advance: Division I (three teams), Division II (three teams), Division III (three teams), Division IV (two teams) and Division V (four teams).
In the girls races the following number of teams advance: Division I (three teams), Division II (three teams), Division III (four teams), Division IV (three teams) and Division V (three teams).
That seems straightforward enough. Besides team entries (based on scoring at the section finals), individuals may also qualify to compete at the state meet. That’s somewhat more complicated.
The top five highest-finishing individuals not on a qualified team advance to compete in Fresno. But there’s a hitch.
•In divisions where two teams qualify for the state meet, individuals must qualify from the top 12 place-finishers.
•In divisions where three teams qualify for the state meet, individuals must qualify from the top 14 place-finishers.
•In divisions where four teams qualify for the state meet, individuals must qualify from the top 16 place-finishers.
There are no alternates for the state meet.
That being said, last Saturday’s section championship meet was highly successful for East County runners.
Liberty Charter (Division V boys) and Christian (Division V girls) both captured team titles and will compete in the state championship meet while 14 runners on non-qualified teams will compete in Fresno as individual qualifiers from the section’s five boys divisions and five girls divisions.
Schools sending runners to this year’s state meet include Steele Canyon (Dania Lopez, Danica Ferrez, Micah Senn, Miguel Casillas), Helix Charter (Kate Weaver, Joel Nickerson, Tyus Joseph), Grossmont (Jane Telliard, Paul Benrud, Luis Naranjo), West Hills (Daniel Vestemean, Ryan Revak), El Capitan (Cora Lottermoser) and Santana (Division III girls champion Harper Diaz).
