East County runners were well represented at this year’s California state cross country championship meet Nov. 25 in Fresno.
While not everyone can be a champion – team or individual – local runners did their best and were rewarded accordingly.
Alpine’s Liberty Charter placed sixth as a team in the Division V boys race after finishing third in its division at the San Diego Section finals Nov. 11 at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.
Senior Ivan Guzman led the pride of Lions across the finish line in 12th place among the 202 runners in the 5K race. Guzman timed 15:41.7 — well behind state race-winner Eyan Turk (14:59.2), a junior from Woodland Christian.
Calvin Christian senior John Bitner was the top San Diego Section finisher in ninth place in 15:33.0, followed by Guzman.
Francis Parker senior York Bourgeois (15:47.1) placed 15th as the No. 3 section place-finisher.
Bourgeois won the Division V section individual title as a prelude to the state meet. Guzman finished fourth behind Santa Fe Christian junior Evan Smith (second) and Bitner (third).
At state, Liberty Charter was the section’s highest-scoring team with 202 points to place ahead of seventh-place Calvin Christian (245 points) and ninth-place Francis Parker (251 points).
Lions head coach Daniel Sanchez said the team’s goal at the state finals was to place ahead of both Calvin Christian (section runner-up) and Francis Parker (section champion).
Mission accomplished.
Besides Guzman, Liberty Charter’s five scorers also included senior Joel Bray (46th, 16:32.2), junior Aiden Burr (53rd, 16:42.5),
senior Samuel Morales (81st, 17:08.2) and sophomore Caleb Acosta (86th, 17:10.0).
Crystal Spring Uplands won the state team championship with 111 points, followed by Yosemite (second, 130 points), San Francisco University (third, 143 points), Menlo (fourth, 183 points) and College Preparatory (fifth, 191 points).
Cougar country
Both Steele Canyon’s girls and boys teams qualified for this year’s state meet. The Lady Cougars finished 21st among the 24 scoring teams in the Division II girls field while Steele Canyon finished 22nd among the 24 scoring teams in the Division II boys field.
Junior Diana Lopez led the Lady Cougars on the course with a time of 19:33.5 to place 87th in the 196-deep race. Sophomore Danica Ferrez finished 116th in 20:01.5 while junior Shelby Coleman (20:10.3) placed 125th. Freshman Vianney Casillas (21:26.4) placed 167th while sophomore Ariel Hoffman (22:19.8) was 179th.
Scripps Ranch won the section title ahead of Steele Canyon while Vista (third place) topped Grossmont (fourth place).
Scripps Ranch finished 14th in the girls standings in Fresno with 353 points while Vista (579 points) was 22nd — once again behind the Lady Cougars.
Ventura won the Division II girls team title with 85 points over runner-up Whitney (114 points).
Montgomery junior Hanne Thomsen was the division’s top individual in 17:10.2 while La Cota Canyon senior Gioanna Lopizzo placed second in 18:32.0.
Steele Canyon finished third at the section finals to qualify for the state meet, trailing boys team champion Scripps Ranch and runner-up Vista.
Junior Micah Senn (100th, 16:36.2), junior Aldo Covarruvias (118th, 16:46.2), junior Miguel Casillas (124th, 16:48.1), senior Luke Hoffman (138th, 16:56.5) and junior Matthew Binsfield (175th, 17:36.7) were Steele Canyon’s top five scorers in the 201-deep boys race.
Vista (416 points) was 17th in the boys field while Scripps Ranch (573 points) was 23rd.
Santa Barbara won the boys team title with 91 points.
Individual qualifiers included Helix freshman Kate Weaver (Division I girls), Santana freshman Harper Diaz (Division III girls), Grossmont sophomore Karci Brownsberger (Division II girls), Grossmont senior Suhey Arce (Division II girls) and Mt. Miguel senior Garrett Cloyd (Division III boys).
•Cloyd finished 34th in 15:53.7 in his 214-deep race, fourth among section runners.
•Diaz placed 44th among 215 finishers in 19:11.7 while Weaver finished 62nd among 177 finishers in 19:04.7.
•Brownsberger finished 103rd among 196 finishers in 19:52.1 while Suhey placed 148th in 20:33.6.
•Cathedral Catholic captured the Division III girls state championship with 83 points to nose out Campolindo, which finished runner-up with 92 points.
•Sophomore Lindsay Zimmer (fourth, 17:45.1) was the Lady Dons’ top place-finisher while senior Alexandria Pena (seventh, 18:03.6) was next up. Cathedral Catholic placed three runners among the top 14 finishers in the 215-deep field.
•Among San Diego Section runners, La Jolla sophomore Chiara Dailey won the Division III individual girls state championship in 17:09.2 while Eastlake sophomore Jaelyn Williams was fourth among Division I girls in 17:31.4.
The Footlocker Nationals are scheduled Saturday, Dec. 9, at Morley Field. The top 40 runners — 10 from each region — will compete in each gender field.
The girls race is scheduled for a 9:15 a.m. start, followed by the boys race at 10 a.m.
The Footlocker West Regionals took place Dec. 2 in Walnut. Dailey won the girls race and will represent the West team in Saturday’s elite field.
