Cross Country Wins League Meet

News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Freshman Sophie DeBenedetti won the Frosh/Soph race at the Delta League race and the varsity was first in the team standings.

“It felt good but definitely tiring,” said DeBenedetti. “I wanted to run fast. There was not a (pace) bike so it was hard to set my own pace because there was no one in front of me. I tried to keep the distance from the girl behind me.”

DeBenedetti helped the team to a second-place finish behind Davis, winning the individual title by more than 50 seconds with her time of 13:36.

“Sophie has a great future,” said Head Coach John DuCray. “She ran a good time for a 2.2 mile course.”

Sophomore Savanna McGrew was fifth (14:42) and freshman Cassidy Lourim was sixth (14:46).

“I can’t wait for the next four years,” said DeBenedetti.

Sophomore Sydney Vandegrift was second overall in the varsity race behind Davis All-American Fiona O’Keefe. She crossed in 18:29 over the 5K course.

“It felt good and kept her in my sight,” said Vandegrift. “I knew it was not Davis’ fastest race.”

Senior Ariane Arndt was third (18:38), while Chase Worthen was fourth overall in 18:39. Senior Gabrielle Dyer was ninth (19:28), sophomore Ava Nkadi was 12th (19:54) and Jessica Danens was 16th (20:15).

St. Francis returns to the Granite Regional Park on Saturday for The Other Meet.

“I am excited for races at the Bella Vista meet on Saturday,” said Vandegrift.

Ducray said the back-to-back meets at Granite give the girls a chance to show an improvement in different racing conditions and compare their times from the same meets from last season.

 “It is all about looking at times compared to last year,” said DuCray. “We want to group up and run together. We need to get our 4, 5 and 6 closer and have some speed time. The challenge for Saturday will be to beat Wednesday’s time,” said DuCray. “The race will be in cooler weather and next few weeks we will get some miles in and start getting serious.”

Race times are 9:30 a.m. for the Frosh/Soph, 10:30 for the varsity and 11:30 for the varsity.