CHICO, CA -- The Eastern Athletic League (EAL) Cross Country Championships were hosted by Chico High on their Hooker Oak course. It would be the third meeting of the six league schools but unlike the previous meetings at center meets which teams get one point for every team defeated, at the league finals two points are acquired. Weather conditions were dry and mild with gradually clearing skies. Ideal for both spectators and participants in the wake of a couple days of rain earlier in the week.
Chico was the overwhelming favorite to win the JV races as well as the varsity girls race. The varsity boys race was more of a toss-up between the Panthers and their crosstown rival, Pleasant Valley. Chico boys had won the first center meet handily as the Vikings elected to run their better frosh/sophs in the JV race. Chico won the second center meet by only two points despite missing Kenton Girt, their top runner who was out due to injury. This gave the Panthers a two point margin (10 to 8) over the Vikings for the league title, meaning that at best Pleasant Valley could tie Chico for the league title if they won this meet. The Chico girls also came into the meet with a two-point margin over Foothill, a team that doesn't have nearly the depth that the Panthers have.
The JV races were ran first. In both Chico dominated with the boys led by frosh Devin Dana taking the first seven places and eleven of the first fifteen places to leave Pleasant Valley a very distant second. Briella Rico led the Chico girls in victory also with a perfect score of 15 even though Foothill had two girls in the top ten but were one short in numbers to field a complete team (so their runners don't count). Pleasant Valley was the only other complete team, and they had no one in the top 18 finishers out of a field of 35 runners.
Next up were the varsity girls. Chico's Taylor Wellersdick got out quick with PV freshman Julie Plummer right on her heals as the two gained an early advantage over a large chase pack as they traversed down the levee for the first time. Plummer was still shadowing Wellersdick as the duo came by the mile mark around 5:40, not as quick as two and a half weeks ago at the Chico Autumn Invitational but still well ahead of a disintegrating chase pack. The Chico tandem of Molly Shewey and Harper Ducale passed the mile mark next with a 20 meter lead over the PV's Avery Hankins and Emily Arnold who were tucked in behind Foothill freshman Ryah Kellogg. After rounding the two of the Hooker Oak ballfields, runners used a paved path to reverse course and head back past the mile mark and up a short rise and their way back to the levee. At this approximate the halfway point, Wellersdick still had the lead but looking a bit more stressed than her shadowing rival Plummer. Shewey and Ducale came by next a sizeable distance ahead of Kellogg who was all by herself in fifth. Hankins and Arnold were being closely tracked by Chico's Moreno-Delgado and her teammate Neva Bilinski with a couple of Foothill runners (Belong, Wilson) not too far back as the race headed away from most of the spectators.
With anticipation running high in what seemed like an eternity, runners finally started trickling back along the elevated levee. Plummer comes into view first, Wellersdick is next and after a bit of a wait its Shewey and then Ducale. Positions remain unchanged as they come off the levee. Rounding the ballfields one last time, Plummer cruises home with a time (18:09) even better than she ran the last time she was on the course. Twenty five seconds later a deflated Wellersdick, looking disappointed she was unable to make it a closer race, still ran a time only four other girls have bettered (18:34). A minute later Chico teammates Shewey and Ducale with a modest gap in between, finish to give the Panthers a 2-3-4 finish and likely insuring the victory for Chico. A half minute later Foothill's Kellogg took fifth followed by her senior teammate Sienna Belong, who had passed two Chico and two PV runners in the latter half of the race to take sixth. Rounding out the top ten was PV's Hankins in seventh, Chico teammates Moreno-Delgado in eighth and Bilinski in ninth with the Viking's Arnold rounding out the top ten finishers. This made for a comfortable win by the Chico girls as they topped PV & Foothill 26-43-53 while Red Bluff, Enterprise and Shasta all failed to have complete teams.
The varsity boys race closed out the competition. A large lead pack worked its way down the levee on the way to circumnavigating the horse riding area. Ten boys still comprised the lead pack at the mile, three from Chico, three from Pleasant Valley, two from Foothill and two from Shasta. The same ten, although strung out some, were still there as they passed the halfway point with Shasta's Liberato, Chico's Girt pressing the pace with Viking teammates Plummer, Lugo and Lara doing the best to stay close.
After disappearing for a time, spectators found that this lead pack had completely fallen apart as big brother Justin Plummer's surge into the lead had the others struggling to stay in contact. Viking teammate Lugo and Lara, along with Shasta's Liberato, likely knowing the individual win was out of the question, turned their attention to the battle was for second. Girt was not looking good probably thinking his Panther's chances for the league title were on the wane as he and his young teammate Dana had lost contact with the Viking runners ahead. Behind them Chico's Kressin was battling Foothill's Bedolla with Shasta's Micah Good still hanging around and in the hunt.
Rounding the final turn, Pummer cruised across the remaining grassy stretch to the finish shute and took the win in 16:27. Six others would cross the finish line before 17 minutes were reached on the scoring clock with Lugo second, Shasta's Liberato settling for third and Lara left in fourth. A trio of Chico runners were next, Dana, Girt and Kressin. Rounding out the top ten were Bedolla, Foothill's top finisher, Good and Newell of Enterprise. At this point PV had the lead 7 to 18 over Chico with both teams having 3 runners in. Fortunes for the Vikings changed after five more runners finished as three of them were Panthers and only one was a Viking with a fifth and final scorer not coming in until 23rd. Thus Chico squeezes out a win over their crosstown rivals 42-44. Shasta was next with 62 pts, followed by Foothill in fourth with 89 points and much more distant Enterprise and Red Bluff in fifth (135 pts) and sixth (166 pts) respectively.
