Eagles' Johnson, Hornets' D'Acquisto make statement with section titles Mount Shasta girls hold on to claim girls team title, PV takes boys

West Valley's Michelle Johnson, takes control before the mile mark, and is never seriously challenged the rest of the way.

By John Ryan, Record Searchlight & Tom Cushman/Hay Bale AC - November 9, 2007 Photos by Lucas Mobley/Record Searchlight (left) & Tom Cushman/Hay Bale AC (below) COTTONWOOD -- Two cross country prodigies won their first Northern Section titles in the sport Thursday. West Valley junior Michelle Johnson won the girls crown in 18 minutes, 37 seconds and Enterprise freshman Domenic D'Acquisto took the boys in 16:03. D'Acquisto's performance drew comparisons to NCAA Division I All-American Tim Nelson of Liberty Christian. "Other than Tim Nelson, no one's run faster as a freshman here," Enterprise coach Jim Deaver said. "That's huge because you look what Tim did and look what Domenic's done. I don't know if he's in the Tim Nelson category yet, but if things go right the next three years he could be one of the best to ever come out of here." Had it been a few degrees cooler -- it was unseasonably warm in Cottonwood -- Deaver and distance guru Bill Elliott said D'Acquisto probably would have cracked the 16-minute mark. The split is a benchmark for elite runners. If you run a sub-16 you'll contend at state. Sixteen runners have broken 16-minutes in the West Valley course's history. Nelson was the only freshman. D'Acquisto's split Thursday was the second-best by a ninth grader. Of the sub-16ers, Enterprise boasts three: Bryce Lighthall (1998), Matt Sartor (2000) and Kenny Frank (2001). Sophomore Hornets teammate Zach Kaylor may add to the list before he graduates. Kaylor took fourth in 16:43. Thanks to an all-underclassmen crew, the babyface Hornets won their seventh section Division III title in nine years. While the Hornet boys placed a freshman and a sophomore in the top ten, the section as a whole saw four other underclassmen place in the top ten (PV's Dustin Gibbs, soph; RAA's Eric Ghelfi, frosh; Chico's Danial Parker, soph; Hayfork's Scott Minor, soph), suggesting the battle for section supremacy could be quite heated in the coming years.

Pleasant Valley, showing their win over top ranked Chico at the EAL Championships was no fluke, won the section meet outright. The Viking crew, led by Senior Tanner Hickman's second place finish (16:31), claimed the D-II boys title and a state berth in the process. Trevor Siperek's third-place finish (16:39), helped pull West Valley to its sixth-straight in D-IV title. Mount Shasta took its fifth straight D-V title in an upset of Redding Adventist Academy. RAA came in as the division favorite but took ninth overall, 44 points behind the Bears. Mount Shasta's top finisher Ramon Rubio took seventh (17:06). The West Valley girls, led by Johnson, took third overall and, for a second straight year, first in girls D-IV. Eagles freshman Corissa Storms was fourth (19:12). Johnson's individual title completes her set of distance gold. She won the section 3,200 meters in track and field as a freshman and added the 1,600-meter title as a sophomore. Johnson, who owns West Valley's 3-mile course record for freshmen girls, finished third at the section finals in 2005. Her 18:29 split that day was the fourth-fastest in the 3-mile course's history. Her times slipped in the 2006 finals and Johnson came in fourth behind a trio of seniors. "I was kind of living in the past last year," Johnson said. "I didn't realize I had to put out the effort

to make it the same as my freshman year." She's since turned it around. Johnson entered Thursday's race a heavy favorite, but wasn't about to psyche herself out. "Whenever I focus on a race too much I start freaking out and I just race horrible," Johnson said. "Every single time I have a race if I start thinking about the race I just tell myself Don't think, just run.'" Mount Shasta's girls ran to their second-straight overall title. The Bears edged D-II champ and overall runner-up Chico by five points. Chico nearly pulled off the upset by placing three runners in the top eleven (Michelle Johnson (5th, 19:12), Paige Henker (10th, 19:52), Leah Arreguin (11th, 19:56), but superior placing of Mt Shasta's 4-5 runners gave the Bears the victory. Bears senior Natalie Sojka kicked by RAA's exhaused Lizzy Gruber (3rd - 19:02) down the stretch to take second (18:54). Mount Shasta's Maggie Strong took sixth (19:28), Hannah Grover took 24th (20:56), Joanna Beem was 26th (21:04) and Cynthia Laiacona was 28th (21:07). The Bears will be attempting to bag a third straight state title at the state finals Nov. 24 in Fresno. Enterprise was fourth overall -- thanks to Delanne Bartlett (18th, 20:44) and Jerri Spence (21st, 20:49). The Hornets won D-III for the sixth time in seven seasons.

Freshman Domenic D'Acquisto (right), along with teammate Zach Kaylor, pace the lead pack through the mile.