Cross Country Qualifies for CIF State Meet

News

FOLSOM, Calif. – The St. Francis cross country team finished third at the Sac-Joaquin Section Championships and earned a berth to the CIF State Championships for the fourth consecutive year.

“Today was a really exciting meet for the varsity girls,” said Assistant Coach Mason Myers. “It was one of our big goals to qualify from sections to state. The girls went after it and had incredible individual races and had a 52 second gap between our first and fifth places to seal a great effort.”

The Troubadours finished third behind Woodcreek (53) and Davis (71) with 74 points.

Myers, who signed with Northern Arizona this week on national signing day, was the top finisher for the Troubadours in 10th place overall in 18:59. Teammate Peyton Bilo was one spot back and six seconds off the pace in 11th in a time of 19:05.

“Peyton came together really strong today,” said Myers.

Freshman Ava Nkadi posted a 40 second personal-best to finish 15th overall with a time of 19:17. She was the third-fastest freshman in the field.

“It is amazing, said Nkadi. “I am excited to stay in a hotel to be honest.”

Sydney Vandegrift was right behind and crossed the line 20th overall (19:39) with junior Ariane Arndt 21st overall (19:51).

Myers said the performance by the two freshmen was really impressive.

“We are really excited with our two freshmen on varsity,” said Myers. “Both Ava and Sydney had incredible races and stayed in there.”

Junior Chase Worthen was the sixth finisher in 37th overall (20:35) and senior Ariel Medina was 50th overall (21:19).

St. Francis will look to record a fourth straight Top-10 finish at the state meet on Nov. 29 in Fresno. The Troubadours, who won a state title in 2002, finished second in 2012, fourth in 2011 and ninth last season.

“Our real target for the state meet is staying fresh, do a couple of hard workouts and do a lot of mental visualization and talk about the course and excitement of the race,” said Myers.

St. Francis swept the two other races on Saturday, taking the Frosh/Soph race behind the 2-3 finish by freshmen Savanna McGrew and Ashley Reid to edge Armijo 47-67.

“We did really well,” said McGrew. “We stayed really close together. I had Ashley right behind me. I felt really confident that she was there. We all did really well together. We finished strong.”

The JV squad was led by junior Gabrielle Dyer (third, 20:35) and senior Amanda Larivee (fourth, 21:18) to defeat Woodcreek 39-42.

Sac-Joaquin Section Division I Girls

Team results: Bella Vista 52, Davis 71, St. Francis 74, Woodcreek 107, Nevada Union 118, Folsom 167, OakRidge 173, Armijo 174, Granite Bay 179, Cosumnes Oaks 255.

Individual results: O’Keeffe, Davis, 16:57; Dipentino, Woodcreek, 18:26; Derry, Bella Vista, 18:30; Castiglioni, Davis, 18:39; Wohlenberg, Bella Vista, 18:40; Pizzella, Nevada Union, 18:48; McKinney, Bella Vista, 18:52; Beitia, Bella Vista, 18:56; Wolf, Nevada Union, 18:57; Myers, St. Francis, 18:59; Bilo, St. Francis, 19:05.

Other St. Francis: 15. Ava Nkadi, 19:17; 20. Sydney Vandrgridt, 19:39; 21. Ariane Arndt, 19:51. 37. Chase Worthen, 20:35; 50. Ariel Medina, 21:19.