COTTONWOOD, CA - Gloomy conditions greeted athletes, coaches, family and fans for the 33rd running of the section cross country championships on the storied West Valley High School course. Breezy south winds, overcast skies and sporadic light shower activity were present following a night of moderate rainfall although the showers largely ended prior to the start of the second (varsity girls) race. Overall, the course held up well to the recent precipitation with areas of concern mostly confined to the grassy areas within a couple hundred yards of the start and a similar distance of grass that runners will traverse across on their way to the track finish.
Chico boys, coming into the meet with a two point victory over crosstown rival Pleasant Valley for the EAL title, would again need a similar effort out of their young squad (3 seniors, 3 sophomores and 1 freshman) if they were to garner the lone D3 state berth. The recent emergence of sophomore Isaac Lara and the improved running of junior Juan-Rigby Lugo would make this a more daunting task in this big field race. Neither of the Chico teams will be in contention for the overall section title. That's looking to be a dogfight between Trinity, University Prep and West Valley, all teams that have a solid scoring five but nothing beyond so any letdown among them would weigh heavily on their chances. West Valley, significantly better than any other D4 team, should easily gain one of two D4 state berths regardless of how they place among the top three as the other two will be fighting for the only D5 berth.
Heading into the final Northern Section competition, the Chico girls were the overwhelming pick to win the overall girls title despite losing a lot of the depth due to late season injuries (or illness) to Phuong Le and Camille Littrell-Poon. Second ranked Pleasant Valley would need a lot to go right to give the Panthers a run for their money. Behind these two section powers it looks like West Valley and U Prep will be the teams to beat for the D4 and D5 berths, respectively.
Boys 3 Mile Championship
The varsity boys were up first. Trinity made a concerted effort to get out well and the Wolfpack had their scoring five in the top 12 a half mile into the race. Passing the mile mark after cresting the course's initial hill saw Trinity's Jackson Poburko comfortably in the lead over a chase pack composed of U Prep's Noah Gaddy, PV's Justin Plummer, Trinity teammates Bill Kormeier and Ryker Robles, West Valley's Isaiah Larceval and an overly ambitious Burney runner, Germaine Maldonado. Another Trinity runner Straatmann comes by next in eighth just ahead of Chico's Kenton Girt. After cresting Elliot's Revenge and before heading up the next hill, Gaddy had caught Poburko. Larceval is not too far behind these two while Plummer, Kormeier are hanging around but both looking to be in some distress. WV's Anderson is on the heels of these two and looks to be in a better state. As do Robles and Nigro, one from Trinity and the other from U Prep as the race for the overall section title heats up. Another Wolfpack runner, Straatmann is holding on in ninth and is followed by two Viking runners, Lugo and Lara as they begin their ascent of the race's final hill. A fading Maldonado is still up there while being approached by U Prep's Dean Henry.
Off the final hill with about a mile to go, Poburko had opened up a couple stride gap on Gaddy with Larceval a bit further back in third. Anderson and Nigro have moved up to fourth and fifth leaving Plummer in sixth, Robles seventh after passing a fading Kormeier in eighth. Straatmann holding steady in ninth, Lugo tenth and Lara eleventh then Henry twelfth then likely followed by Girt, Brower, most likely Lothus, and finally Maldonado with a little less than a mile to go
The boys field then reverses course and retraces their steps over the opening portion of the race until angling away from where they started to make their way toward the track finish. Reappearing first, Poburko had stretched his advantage over Gaddy which he maintains across a long grassy stretch before making a left turn for the track finish. The Trinity senior comes home in 16:06 to claim his second section title. Gaddy finishes next with an even larger gap over third place Larceval. WV teammate Anderson and Nigro maintain their positions coming in fourth and fifth followed by a hard charging Dean Henry of U Prep who uses the closing mile to move up six places. Next in are PV underclassmen Lugo and Lara who sandwich Trinity's number two runner Ryker Robles in between as the trio place 7th, 8th and ninth respectively.
Trinity's Straatmann's rounds out the top ten while his Wolfpack teammates despite paying for their aggressive start place well enough that Kormeier's twelfth and Brower 17th place finish gives Trinity the overall section boys team title and the only D5 state berth, avenging the loss to University Prep last year as the Panther's fourth and fifth man came in a more distant 24th and 28th. Chico boys, despite their number two man Oscar Bergmann returning to racing after being dinged up after running Flat SAC in late October, came up short against Pleasant Valley as the Vikings put three in well before Chico had one so it didn't matter that the Panthers had seven cross the line before PV closed out their scoring. West Valley boys, finished third and the last team to score under 100 points, easily claimed the first of two D4 state berths. Live Oak ended up taking the other D4 berth despite ending up well back in 9th.
Individual state qualifiers among the boys were Shasta's Micah Good and Oliver Liberato, Foothill's Devan Bedolla and Chico's Kenton Girt and Oscar Bergmann in Division 3. U Prep's Noah Gaddy, Francesco Nigro and Dean Henry qualified in Division 5 while Anderson's Israel Garcia-Gomez and Jaime Gonzales, Oroville's Donovan Walsh, Corning's Brishen Schenk made the grade in Division 4. To qualify runners in Division 3 & 5 had to finish in the top 8 of those in their respective division while in Division 4 one had to finish in the top 12.
Girls 3 Mile Championship
Weather conditions improved noticeably by the time the varsity girls race got underway. Not surprisingly, PV's Julie Plummer, Chico's Taylor Wellersdick and CORE Butte's Brianna Hayes quickly open a gap on the rest of the field. At this point a little over half mile in, defending section champion Rogue Cutler of U Prep is content to be among the leaders of large chase pack. The top three stay together as they come off the opening hill and pass the mile mark. Little changes as the course levels out before making the steep climb up Elliot's Revenge. This abrupt, relatively short incline can and often does make an impact on a race. This proved to be the case.
Wellersdick loses momentum at Elliot's revenge, to begin her surprisingly quick fade from contention. Plummer used that short steep stretch of trail to also open a smaller advantage on Hayes. She would enlarge her advantage over Hayes during the climb and cresting the course's more significant hill found in the latter half of the course's second mile. Meanwhile Cutler used this stretch to close on and subsequently pass Wellersdick and shrink the advantage Hayes had on her.
Coming off the final hill, Plummer had stretched her lead over those chasing her. Behind her Hayes came off the hill in second and Cutler in third with the former looking the more stressed. A disengaged Wellersdick came by a sizeable distance later not too far ahead of her teammate Molly Shewey.
The final mile saw Plummer enlarge her advantage over those chasing her to come home with a comfortable 20 second plus margin at the finish in an excellent time of 18:14. Hayes, although losing touch with the leader, held on well to finish second in 18:36 while a trailing Cutler closed some of the gap with the CORE Butte senior to run a course best for her of 18:43 in taking third, her second foray under 19 minutes on the course this fall. Almost a minute went by before Wellersdick appeared and she led her junior teammate Molly Shewey to a 4th and 5th place finish.
Central Valley's Tea Kaizen closes out her high school career finishing 6th by running her best time on the West Valley course 19:56. PV's Avery Hankins was next in 20:02 comfortably ahead of Lassen Kimberlee Mckernan in 8th with her 20:12. Foothill freshman Ryah Kellogg comes home ninth with her 20:17. PV's Emily Arnold rounds out the top ten with her 20:27 effort.
Chico does indeed win the overall team title but thanks to some impressive running by the Vikings 4th and 5th runners come within a point of upsetting the Panthers (50 to 51). D3 Foothill is a more distant third with 107 points. D5 U Prep edges D4 West Valley 134 to 137 as they both garner state berths. The final D4 berth went to Yreka despite having only one runner in the top 20 while the rest placed outside the top 50.
Individual state qualifiers among the girls were CORE Butte's Brianna Hayes, Central Valley teammates Tea Kaizen and Izzy Kaiser, Hope's Kylie Erickson and Shasta View's Anna Abrahamsen in Division 5. Lassen's Kimberlee Mckernan and Cheyenne White, Enterprise's Judith Bravo, Live Oak's Sofia Gonzalez, Oroville's Lainee Frazier garnered berths in Division 4 while Foothill's Ryah Kellogg, PV's Avery Hankins and Emily Arnold did the same in Division 3.
In the shorter junior varsity races, where the second mile hill is avoided, the Chico boys swept the field by taking the first seven places to easily outdistance Pleasant Valley 15 to 70 with West Valley a more distant third with 99. Chico flooded the zone by having 18 runners finish in the top 28. Devin Dana backed up his win at the EAL championships with a win on the West Valley course by an impressive 40 second margin. Likewise, Chico's Briella Rico also matched her win at the EAL championships with a victory here at the section championships as the Panthers easily held off crosstown rival Pleasant Valley by the score of 18 to 69. The girl's JV race had only four full team out of 76 runners with Chico having 19 runners finishing in the top 32.
