COTTONWOOD, CA - Athletes from forty-one schools found benign partly cloudy skies with cool but certainly not cold temperatures upon their midday arrival at West Valley High School for the Northern Section Cross Country Championships. Four races would be contested on the day, two varsity races at 3 miles and two open races at 2.2 miles that avoids the varsity course's final hill and much of the runout after that hill. The longer varsity races would have state berths (both team and individual) on the line while the shorter open races would primarily be for frosh/sophs but also include upper classmen not good enough to be among their school's top ten. While initially sunny and dry, off to the west a line of showers was slowly approaching and appeared likely to return clouds and bring some precipitation to the proceedings at some point.
The varsity girls' race was up first this year. The pre-race favorite was Orland senior Paulina Martins, who came into the section championships undefeated in ten races in this her second full season of cross country with most of her wins not particularly close. Chico was a heavy favorite to extend their section title winning streak to five despite losing three of their scoring five from last year (due to graduation, injury and retirement from running). Nevertheless the Panthers also managed to remain undefeated against section competition this season as their superior depth gave them enough flexibility to overcome injury, illness and other health issues as they arose.
Orland's Paulina Martins, as expected, grabbed the early lead with her advantage approaching the race's opening hill around five meters on a chase pack of EAL rivals Ava Csutoras and Taylor Wellersdick of Chico, PV's Holly Alchin and Shasta's Elle Merrill who had opened up a smaller gap over NAL stalwarts Lassen's Kimberlee Mckernan and U Prep' freshman Rogue Cutler. Coming off the hill and a little over a mile in, Martins was still comfortably in charge while behind Mckernan and Cutler had caught the chase pack while Merrill was showing signs of losing contact. Elliot's revenge and the subsequent downhill stretch disintegrated the chase pack. Freshman Cutler used the stretch to catch up to Martins while behind Csutoras and Mckernan were best at maintaining contact with the race leaders as the four started ascending the lower reaches of the race's concluding hill. Alchin was a few more meters behind them while Wellersdick and Merrill looked to be in some distress as they appeared more interested in maintaining their position than trying to engage with those ahead. Not too far behind, Kaizen in eigth was closely followed by Chico's Lilli Jeffords who was enjoying her best race of the season.
Girls 3 Mile Championship
Cutler made an easy pass of Martins less than halfway up the final hill and opened up a significant gap over the section rival while still on the hill's helpful decline. Coming off the hill next Mckernan and Csutoras have caught Martins but Alchin hasn't and was a ways back alone in fifth. Next coming down the hill Jeffords has caught her teammate Wellersdick after passing Merrill and dropping Kaizen. CORE Butte's Hayes also used the hill to her advantage and found herself in a good position for a top ten finish right on the heals of Jeffords. The final flat stretch to the track finish saw Cutler widen her advantage over those trailing her. The closest turned out to be Csutoras who put some daylight over both Martins and Mckernan. A stronger close would leave the Orland senior in third over the Lassen sophomore. After a sizeable break, Alchin cruises in alone fifth, followed shortly by Chico second runner, Lilli Jeffords who successfully holds off a challenge by Hayes to take sixth. Kaizen takes eighth to edge Chico's Wellersdick and Shasta's Merrill as they round out the top ten finishers.
Chico would indeed claim the section overall team title with freshman Harper Ducale (11th) and Reese Alvistur (13th) rounding out their scoring five. The Panthers would have five in before any other team had more than one. PV freshman Emily Arnold took 13th. In addition to Chico, other schools to garner a state berth were West Valley and Central Valley, the top teams in division 4 and University Prep, who lost a tiebreaker for second team overall, but were first in division 5. Hope, 4th overall, won division 6 but because they only contest five divisions at state will not advance there as a team. Individual girls who qualified were Holly Alchin and Emily Arnold of Pleasant Valley, along with Shasta's Merrill in division 3; Orland's Paulina Martins, Lassen's Kimberlee Mckernan and Cheyene White, Yreka's Ava Shackelford and Ava Hughes. Also earning a trip to Fresno was CORE Butte's Brianna Hayes, Hope's Kylie Erickson and Anna Cook, Micaela Thompson, Colusa's Rajdeep Shoker in division 5.
Boys 3 Mile Championship
The varsity boys race, in contrast to the girls sunny beginning, started under threatening skies. Pre race favorite Trinity's Jackson Poburko jumps to an early lead and a half mile later holds decent advantage over a very determine chase pack containing PV's Jackson Hein and three of his teammates, Quentin Clarke, Nolan McLaughlin and Justin Plummer, Providence Christian's Kyle Cleek and West Valley sophomore Elijah Anderson. A larger second chase pack was coalescing behind. After continuing down the opening hill after passing the first mile, Poburko was still firmly in control of the race with only two Vikings able (or willing) to stay close, Clarke and Hein. Behind them, McLaughlin, Cleek, Anderson and Plummer were being joined by Chico's Kenton Girt, Larsen Cooper and Trinity's Ethan Straatmann.
After cresting Elliot's Revenge and pressing through the intervening valley, Poburko's lead appeared to be shrinking over the Viking tandem of Hein and Clarke as they started their way up the race's final hill. Poburko's lead was even more tenuous coming off this final hill. Sure enough, once off the hill and into the flat Hein dropped Clarke (who likely wasn't slowing down, just could not match the acerated pace of his teammate) to latch onto and subsequently shadow Poburko until kicking by the Trinity junior upon entering the track. Darkening skies had opened up at this point as directing a cold rain upon athletes, coaches, parents and fans alike. Hein, coming off a track season where he broke a 60 year old section record in the 800m, proved he has a kick no one in the section can match, not even the one with the second best kick, Poburko. Unlike last year when the closing mile pace set by Poburko and Charlie Brennan broke Hein, this year Hein was determined this was not going to happen. And it sure didn't.
Behind the race leaders a lot of shuffling of places was going on that didn't end until competitors reached the finish chute. Clarke, although unable to hang with his teammate, did hold it together well enough to finish third and dip until the 16 minutes mark, something only done by 31 individuals in the 32 years the championship has been run on this course. Solid runs by University Prep Noah Gaddy and Seth Austin had them sandwich PV's third runner, Nolan McLaughlin. Cleek took seventh, a couple seconds ahead of University Prep third runner Caleb Robinson. West Valley Isaiah Larceval followed in 9th, one place ahead of Trinity's Bill Kormeier. Rounding out the scoring five for the Vikings were Justin Plummer in 11th and Grady Denman in 17th. Collectively those five Vikings broke the team time record set by Shasta in 2012 and did so impressively by over a minute. Behind them, University Prep and Trinity team times were the ninth and tenth fastest all-time in finishing second and third overall. Ironically Trinity despite finishing behind University Prep in the scoring had a superior team time by a couple seconds and yet because they finished as the second team in division 5 will not be heading to state as a team.
Pleasant Valley got the state berth in Division 3, West Valley fourth place overall finish and Lassen's 8th place finish got them state team berths in division 4 while University Prep by edging Trinity got the lone division 5 berth. Individual state qualifiers were Chico's Emiliano Ibanez, Shasta's Micah Good were the only qualifiers in division 3; Oroville's Donovan Walsh, Gridley's Valentin Sanchez Jr, Orland's David and Aaron Ross, Central Valley's Vincent Myers qualified in division 4; Trinity's Jackson Poburko, Bill Kormeier, Ethan Straatmann, Providence Christian's Kyle Cleek qualified in division 5.
Chico girls won the open 2.2 mile race despite Foothill dropping a number of freshman who had run on varsity most of the season into the field. The fastest of these freshman, Foothill's Kinley Wilson won the race. Nevertheless the Panthers, led by Samantha Moreno-Delgado, garnered the next 3 places (and a total of six in the top twelve) to easily top the Cougars 23 to 45.
Pleasant Valley boys held off a determined effort by crosstown rival Chico to win the shorter open race. Once again the Viking sophomore tandem of Juan-Rigby Lugo and Owen Johnson finished 1-2. It was the fifth time this season they have done it. Further behind Chico's Ian Kressin just held off a fast closing Viking Brendan Cashman for third. These high finishes by PV ensured a win over Chico for the 4th time this season despite the Panthers placing six runners ahead of PV's fourth. Just not enough places gobbled up by other teams to make a difference.
The state qualifying teams and individuals will be travelling to Woodward Park in Fresno the Saturday (November 25) of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to compete in the state cross country championships.
