(Courtesy photo)
The Dos Pueblos boys and girls cross country teams both finished in 16th place in their Division 3 races at the 34th CIF State Cross Country Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park on Saturday morning.
“Today was about so many things for these DP teams, including the first time in DP history to have both girls and boys teams qualify for State,” said coach Jen Brown. “For the girls, today was a goal set at the beginning of their season. For the boys, this was an opportunity to prove how far they’ve come, and that despite the bumps in the road, they timed their peak performance perfectly.”
The Charger boys ran in the first race of the day at 8:30 a.m. Junior Luci Koroshec was the team’s first finisher, coming in 47th place in 16:10.9 over the 3-mile course.
Freshman Eamon Gordon broke into the top 100 finishers, placing 82nd in 16:38.9. He was followed by senior Edward Bi (116, 17:04.1), junior Orlando Ye (118, 17:05.9), junior Tyler Jamieson (130, 17:18.9), sophomore Dominic Corral (161, 17:45.2) and freshman Andrew Brennan (181, 18:08.3).
The Division 3 boys race had 25 teams and 207 finishers. West Torrance won the team title with 57 points.
Junior Phoebe Wolf Lyons, DP’s No. 1 runner all season, led the Charger girls with a 34th-place finish in 19:05.6.
Junior Ellie Gleason broke 20 minutes, and finished in the top 75, clocking 19:48 to place 71st. She was followed by junior Sarah Dent (121, 20:34.7), Reese Wahlberg (129, 20:43.1), junior Samsara Chahine (132, 20:55.2), senior London Wahlberg (145, 21:14.3) and freshman Ruby Heinrich (152, 21:25.7).
The D3 girls race had 25 teams and 209 finishers. The team champion was Campolindo with 109 points.
“I have to give a shout out to Luci and Ellie, who both ran strong races two weeks in a row, and knocked off 20 and 25 runners, respectively, from the 2.05-mile mark to the finish today at State.” said Brown. “I recall commenting, somewhat jokingly, at the SBART luncheon a couple months ago that those two were so slow to start, but that I would never count them out in a race because they both come from behind. That they did this season.
“I am so proud of how these teams have come together these last six weeks of straight races for us,” she added. “Team spirit and camaraderie are at a high, and both teams realized they are stronger and better runners when their team unit functions together.
“We are looking forward to next season already, with the goal of State for both teams this time.”
The Cate School girls earned a top-10 finish in Division 5, placing in eighth place.
The Rams were led by enior Anna DiSorbo, who came in 20th in 19:33.7. She was followed by Kendall Thorne (61, 20:37.8), Francesca Sutch (69, 20:43.2), Emily Allison (75, 20:51), Caroline Keohane (118, 22:21.2) and Madeleine Patrick (129, 22:45.6).
Newbury Park (Boys D-1) won its third consecutive State title with a State Championship best course time of 73:23 and team score of 16. Senior Colin Sahlman led the Panthers with an all-time best D-1 boys time of 14:27, a second-best all-time male course mark.
Individually, senior Dalia Frias of Mira Costa won the girls D-2 crown with a second-best all-time divisional time of 16:52. Senior Spohi Nordenholz of Albany claimed the girls D-4 title with a third-best all-time divisional time of 16:46, while freshman Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery took home the D-3 girls crown. Senior Kenan Pala of Francis Parker ran an all-time best boys D-5 time of 14:51.
In girls team action, Buchanan won its third State Championship with an all-time seventh-best D-1 time of 90:13, while Mira Costa claimed its first State title. Campolindo won its sixth State title, repeating as D-3 champion after previously winning the title in 2019, while JSerra won their fourth all-time D-4 crown. San Francisco University claimed a State Championship meet record 11th team title in D-5.
On the team side for the boys, San Luis Obispo won its second State Championship, first in Division 2. West Torrance won its second State crown with an all-time fourth-best D-3 score and third-best D-3 time (78:33), while Albany won its first State title with and all-time ninth-best D-4 time of 80:47. Lick-Wilmerding won its first State Championship with a third-best D-5 time of 81:22.