West Valley girls, Shasta boys win SRL cross country championship Enterprise's Ulloa flies to girls individual title Foothill High School Thursday November 7, 2013 By T.J. Holmes - Record Searchlight sports writer PALO CEDRO — Every year, the family-like bond established in offseason workouts during cold winter mornings and hot summer afternoons has helped turn West Valley into a powerhouse girls cross country program. The Eagles are unselfish as a group and used that relationship to propel them to another title, winning the Sac River League championships at Foothill High School on Thursday. “We have the best coaches and we push each other. We’re close and we run for each other,” said Eagles’ senior Jenna Hinkle, who finished third overall in a time of 18 minutes, 56 seconds. West Valley totaled 31 points with five runners finishing in the Top 10. Carrying the weight of the Northern Section’s top team adds an extra layer of pressure. But the hype is something the Eagles are used to, and have embraced the challenge by delivering on the biggest stages. “Yeah there’s pressure but we all like it,” Hinkle said. “We like to defend our title. It makes us work harder because we want to be undefeated and win sections every year.” Enterprise was second with 37 points and was led by freshman and race champion Natalie Ulloa, who broke the course record by 25 seconds, coming in 17:44 and blowing past the competition. “I’m in shock right now, it feels great,” Ulloa said, “My teammates and coaches are encouraging and give me words of wisdom. They always tell me I can do it and my parents believe in me and it helps me believe in myself.” Ulloa didn’t have the best start off the line but cruised up to the front quickly, and pulled away once she knew everyone was chasing her. “When there’s no one around, a lot of runners slow down and fall asleep and get in this comfortable pace and aren’t conscious of it,” Ulloa said. “I made sure my head was always in the race, never wandered off and focused on staying ahead and staying on my pace.” The Wolves’ Hannah Davis took second in 18:49 but Shasta finished a distant third with 69 points as they didn’t have anyone else in the Top 15. Red Bluff was fourth with 104 points. Foothill did not have a complete team, but Cougar freshman Andrea Bader finished fifth in 19:51. West Valley’s winning team consisted of Jenna Storms in fourth (19:22), Alex Flagg in eighth (20:33), Delaney Flaggard in ninth (20:46) and Rayleen Matheson in 10th (20:57). Enterprise’s Sydney Pruett was sixth (19:58), Shalynn Fullerton was seventh (20:16), Chantelle Borges was 11th (21:10) and Zoe Browning was 18th (21:33). Red Bluff’s leader was Nicole Renfroe in 13th place 21:18. As for the boys, Shasta easily took care of business placing its scoring five in the top seven. Seniors Landon Woollard and Josh Bland led the way by finishing one-two in 16:13 and 16:29, respectively . “I took out pretty hard and coming down the hill I just opened up and went for it,” said Woollard, who won last year’s SRL championships on the same course. “I just used that momentum to carry me through.”   Shasta's 20 points gave the Wolves a comfortable margin over the rest of the league with Riley Davis fourth (17:02), Noah Bland sixth (17:09) and Nathan Schillen in seventh (17:11) closing out their scoring. West Valley, led by Jeff Foreman in third (16:54) and Zach Baldwin in fifth (17:03), took second with 49 points. Finishing out the team competition, Red Bluff was third with 70 and Foothill was fourth with 86 points while Enterprise did not have a complete team. The Northern Section cross country championships is at West Valley on Thursday. Shasta, which set the team and course record for the section championships last year, expects a tight race against Yreka, which is considered the top team in the section. “I think it’s going to be really close but we both want it,” Woollard said. “There’s no way either of us is going to back down. It’s going to be a battle and we’re all looking forward to it.” Some editing provided by Tom Cushman