Both Cate cross country squads advanced to the CIF-SS Div. 5 Finals with impressive performances at the preliminary races on Saturday.
The boys team won their heat with a total of 41 points and a team time of 1:23.13, which led all Div. 5 qualifying teams. Meanwhile, the girls squad turned in a solid performance to advance.
Sebastian Sutch and Everest Schipper led the way for the boys, finishing in second and third place, respectively.
Rounding out the Cate scorers were Ati Zwieback (8th), Oliver Lee (13th) and George Gordon (19th).
“Seb and Everest ran well and under control, which was the plan,” Cate coach Tim Weir said. ” Ati is really starting to figure out how to race and had a big breakthrough today. Oliver has had some great workouts recently, so we knew he was going to run well.
“George has been slowed by some injuries of late, and seeing him back up there with Oliver was awesome.”
On the girls side, Francesca Sutch led the team with an eight-place finish while Stella Rodgers (33rd), Caroline Keohane (38th), Coco Kliman (39th) and Karla Camacho (67th) followed.
“We couldn’t be more proud of the girls’ team,” Weir said. “Fran is the only returner in this group. Stella has really improved throughout the season, running her best race today. She improved her time from the Mt. Sac Invitational by over two minutes.
“Caroline has been able to stay healthy all year which has also given us a big boost.”
Both Rams teams will run in the finals next Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College beginning at 7:45 a.m.