Enterprise's Ulloa crushes competition at NSCIF cross country championships
Bunn wins to pace Yreka to the boys team title, West Valley easy winner in girls race

Thursday November 14, 2013
By Joseph Shufelberger/ER Sports Writer, T.J. Holmes/Record Searchlight, edited & photos by Tom Cushman

COTTONWOOD, CA - Section titles and state berths were on the line Thursday at the Northern Section CIF Cross Country Championships and with them came the bubbling up of emotions from a season-long journey coming to fruition. It was that kind of day for several area standouts on an unseasonably warm mid-November day at the 3-mile West Valley High course.

Three months ago, Natalie Ulloa couldn't have imagined being a section champion. The Enterprise High freshman stumbled upon cross country as a way to stay in shape for soccer, a winter sport. But she quickly found out her petite body structure - she stands less than 5 feet tall - was a weapon to dismantle the long-distance competition. Ulloa pulled out to the front on the first stretch and never relented, blasting the field to win the girls race at the Northern Section cross country championships at West Valley High School on Thursday. "It's really unbelievable to me," Ulloa said. "It's my first year of cross country, so I didn't know what to expect or where I would be. "I can only improve from here as long as I stay dedicated."

Girls 3 Mile Championship
Ulloa's first-place time of 18 minutes, 9 seconds was second-best time ever run at sections on West Valley's challenging 3-mile course, a mear 10 seconds short of the record. A strong start helped her get in position to lead the pack, and her small strides, she said, helped her push through the wide-open trails ahead. "I had to persevere," Ulloa said. "Down the hill at the flat part, I heard a voice in the back of my head telling to 'just slow down, you're tired.' I pushed it to the back of my mind, I had to do it for my team. This is the last race, and I had to give it my all."

West Valley's Jenna Storms, was the best of the rest but had to run faster than her section-winning time from last year to do it. She trailed Shasta's Hannah Davis at the 1-mile marker, closed the gap by the 2-mile marker but it wasn't until long grass stretch heading toward the stadium where she was finally able to surge past Davis on her way to finishing in 18:57. "I had to dig down, because I knew how bad I wanted it," Storms said. "She was right there, and I don't think I could watch anyone finish ahead of me after being that close."

The rest of the top ten was filled with Shasta's Davis in third (19:05), followed by West Valley's Jenna Hinkle (19:13) and Alex Flagg (19:54) and Foothill freshman Andrea Bader (20:06) for fourth through sixth, respectively. Enterprise's Sydney Pruett was seventh (20:17), Redding Christian's Belle Moran (20:26) was eighth, Enterprise's Shalyn Fullerton (20:30) was ninth and U-Prep's Helen Mino-Faukner was 10th (20:35).

Storms helped West Valley take the overall team title, and claim the first of two section Division IV state berths, in the process with 37 points. Junior Rayleen Matheson in 15th (20:49)and Senior Kristina Freitas in 22nd overall (21:21) rounded out the Eagle scoring to secure the section crown. "Our team is amazing. I absolutely love them," Storms said. "We push ourselves and each other so much. Most are seniors, and I'm going to miss them - they're my second family."

Enterprise followed with 61 points and grabbed the D-III title ahead of Chico (105). U-Prep won D-V with 143 points and was fifth overall. Shasta had 145 points, Red Bluff had 216 and Mount Shasta was third in D-V and 10th overall with 298 points. Other local top finishers were Central Valley's Abby Murch in 12th (20:41), and CV's Anna Lewis in 21st (21:18).

Chico, although favored to take the Division III title, came out flat. The Panthers were third as a team overall at 105, but Enterprise, led by individual champion - and freshman - Natalie Ulloa, who won by more than 48 seconds at 18:08.57, finished with 61 points to take the team title in Division III and the state berth. The only Panther girl making the trip to state will be sophomore Celeste Wilson. She won the Eastern Athletic League final last week, and was the top area finisher again Thursday at 11th place among 129 runners with a time of 20:39.21. "It's going to be hard going to state without the rest of my girls there, but I'm really glad that I'm going, and it's going to be a good experience for me," Wilson said.

"You can control the process, but you can't control the outcome," said Pleasant Valley High senior Francesca Vecere, who finished 17th overall at 20 minutes, 53.75 seconds in the girls' race and wasn't sure if it was good enough for a third trip to the state meet. "I was really nervous and I just put my headphones in and went on my cool-down run, just nerves were high. When I heard, 'Senior from Pleasant Valley,' I almost cried. It was a great thing to hear."

 
Boys 3 Mile Championship
For the boys, Yreka, the top ranked D-IV team in the state, took the overall team title with 39 points and had the top two runners in senior Clayton Bunn (15:57) and junior Matt Jochin (16:11). Bunn, pulled away from tight lead pack, to win going away. It was the first time Bunn completed the fabled West Valley's course in less than 16 minutes. The Chico High boys edged Shasta for second overall and first in in Division III to take the lone state berth at that level. Shasta senior Landon Woollard finished fourth overall in 16:18, and senior Josh Bland was 10th (16:58), but it was not enough to overcome the Panthers' depth as they finished in a cluster to upend the Wolves 72-78.

The state-bound Panthers were led by junior Jacob Graber, who was ninth overall among the 170 runners at 16:50.82. Senior Andris Molina was 14th overall at 17:10.40. Soon after came Adrian Gomez-Mora in 16th at 17:14.94, Benton Miller in 18th at 17.18.78 and Liam Monninger in 20th at 17:25. "It was awesome," Chico coach Kevin Girt said. "As a group, we talked about how they had to really run well, especially our 3-4-5 guys and they did. Everyone of them had easily their best race this season. They did what needed to be done, and the results showed it." The Panthers are bound for Woodward Park in Fresno, which is home to the state meet on Saturday, Nov. 30.

U-Prep won the D-V title with 189 points, sixth overall, while CV was fourth in D-IV and seventh overall with 224 points. Red Bluff was 10th with 304 points. Trinity's Ben Harper was fifth overall (16:19), CV's Austin Murch was eighth (16:45), and West Valley's Donald Leedy (17:01) and Jeff Foreman (17:15) were 11th and 15th, respectively.

Shasta's Riley Davis was 17th, locking up an individual spot with teammates Woollard and Bland to go to the state meet in Fresno on Nov. 30. "Their work ethic has been incredible," Shasta head coach Doug O'Brien said. "Landon came to me and apologizes for taking fourth, because he has such high expectations and wants to win. Josh has been a workhorse, and I'm going to miss them." Tyler Yonkers paced U-Prep with a 30th-place finish (17:50), Foothill's Ryan Corless was 34th (17:56), Redding Christian's Joey Belknap was 37th (17:57) and Enterprise's Tyler Caseltine was 39th (18:05).

But several individuals shone bright on a sunny day, none more so than Durham senior Damon Young. The Trojan easily qualified for state and was the Division V champion with a third-place overall with a time of 16:16.66. Young, using a late kick, to pull by Woollard, Trinity's Ben Harper before the finish line. "I've been working on my kick all year. I've never really had one before," Young said. "The first mile was a little bit slower. We had about 5:20 and that front pack was still together and that's who I tried to stay with through the whole race." Young will be joined at state by two Durham girls. Senior Madison Schell, a state qualifier before, was no surprise as she finished a spot behind Vecere at 18th overall in 21:11.20. Freshman Ellie Coffee (22:18.64) was 39th overall and among Division V runners that was plenty good for a state berth.

Paradise had two runners advance to state. Sophomore Talia Swangler was 19th in 21:14.37 and advanced for Division IV. Bobcats senior Justin McGlone took 12th in 17:06.11. The Corning boys team will send two individuals to state as well. Seniors Rogelio Silva finished sixth overall at 16:37.23, and Durante Rodriguez was 22nd in 17:26.98. University Prep was the Division V team champion in both races, and Yreka was the other state qualifier for Division IV girls. The West Valley boys were the second Division IV team qualifier.