Chico’s Graber, Enterprise's Ulloa win EAL/SRL league titles Chico girls take team title over Shasta, Chico second behind Shasta in boys race Hooker Oak Recreation Area, Bidwell Park Thursday November 5, 2014 By Nick Woodard/Chico ER sportwriter CHICO - Jacob Graber faced tough competition at the start of his 3-mile race. But as he distanced himself from the other runners and sprinted the final straightaway, the title was his to take. Chico High's Graber won the varsity boys cross country race during the Eastern Athletic/ Sacramento River League Championships at Hooker Oak Recreation Area on Thursday. Graber finished the race in 16 minutes, 40.3 seconds to capture the title and gain all- league honors. The top seven runners from both varsity races were named all-league, while the next seven were named all league honorable mention. Graber helped Chico to a second-place finish with 59 points on the day, behind first place Shasta's 28. Pleasant Valley took third at 79, while Paradise took fourth at 96 with Red Bluff rounding out the team scoring with 101. From the start, Graber was locked in a tight contest at the top with Shasta's Riley Davis, who finished second at a 16:51.10. The two had been neck and neck for much of the season, and Graber used that as motivation for the race. " It was a good race today. Everybody was up there," Graber said. " Riley worked me all the way and I was able to make a move at the end. It was a good, competitive race." Behind the top two runners, Paradise's Masen Becerril came away with third place and a time of 16:56.30. Becerril had a dark moment early in the second mile of the course where he was beating down mentally, but he pushed through it and ending up passing six runners on the way to the finish. " I knew it was going to be tough," Becerril said. " I started out in the first group. I slowed down a bit, but I picked it up and picked them off one by one." Shasta's Andrew Skoy, Enterprise's Chris Prielipp and Shasta's Samuel Grafe took the next three spots, respectively, with Pleasant Valley senior Tony Hubbell crossing the line in seventh place. Running with talent around him pushed Hubbell, and it resulted in his first career all-league selection. Shasta's Noah Bland, Chico's Liam Monniger and PV's Shayne Morrissey rounded out the top 10. In the girls varsity race, Chino's varsity girls squad took first as a team, with Pleasant Valley placing fifth. Enterprise's Natalie Ulloa took the individual title, resetting her course record by four seconds with a 18:31.60 effort. Shasta's Hannah Davis, Enterprise's Shalynn Fullerton and Shasta's Miranda Avalos filled the next three spots. Then, two Chico runners in Celeste Wilson and Jessalyn Ayars took fifth and sixth at 20:14.40 and 20:33.40, respectively. For Wilson, it was the mental aspect of running that gave her the edge. " The mental drive to do well and compete well is more important than the natural talent you have," Wilson said. Red Bluff's Naomi Renfroe took seventh, followed by Paradise's Talia Swangler in eighth with a time of 20:48.60. Chico's Georgina Quinn and Micha Crescetelli rounded out the top 10 with times of 21:17.70 and 21:27.70. Swangler's goal heading into the race was to get fifth place and stay on track with Wilson. She already beat her once this season, and tried to catch back up to her during the race. " I tried to keep my eye on her the whole race," Swangler said. " I thought if I could keep her in my sights, I would have her." It didn't quite work out. In the junior varsity races, Pleasant Valley prevailed over Chico for the boys team title 28-51, despite Chico's Kellen Pierce out sprinting Foothill's Zachary Paoli for the win. Pierce (11:23.6) led three other runners under the course record set just two weeks prior. In the JV girls race, Shasta's Meah Bush edged Chico's Kaytlyn Nather by only a second in the race that also saw three other runners best the old course record. Shasta girls trumped Chico by ten points to take the team title with Foothill, Paradise and Red Bluff rounding out the team scoring. Running against section trends, the JV girls had more runners than the JV boys, and the varsity girls had more finishers than the varsity boys. Rounding out the team scoring the Red Bluff girls were third with 72, Enterprise fourth at 91, Paradise fifth 125 and PV ended up with 134 for sixth. The Northern Section cross country championships are set for 2pm Thursday November 13 at fabled West Valley High course in Cottonwood. Pictures & some editing provided by Tom Cushman