Chico girls, Shasta boys victorious this time around at EAL center meet Shasta's Andrew Skoy, Foothill's Belle Moran claim varsity wins Foothill High School, Palo Cedro, California Wednesday October 21, 2015 By T.J. Holmes/Redding Record Searchlight sportwriter PALO CEDRO — The Chico High girls’ cross-country team ran like it was at full-strength. The boys’ team weren’t, but the Panthers still didn’t fare badly. Celeste Wilson’s second-place finish led Chico to a victory at the Eastern Athletic-Sacramento River League meet victory Wednesday at Foothill High. The Panthers won the meet with 37 points, followed by Shasta (42), Red Bluff (86), Pleasant Valley (86) and Paradise (127). Enterprise and Foothill didn’t have full teams. Foothill senior Belle Moran took the girls’ race in 18 minutes, 50 seconds, sticking on Chico’s Celeste Wilson (19:15) for most of the race before making her move to earn the top spot. “I paced off Celeste and when I felt good, I passed her and finished hard,” Moran said. Moran, who took 11th at the last EAL meet, is ranked third in the section behind Trinity’s Karly Gutermuth and Wilson, respectively. For Moran, running on her home course aided her 25-second victory. “It helps because you know all the little corners to hug and when to speed it up on the downhills too,” Moran said. Wilson's runnerup performance was backed up by teammates Lauren Moxon (21:14) in seventh and a stretch of six straight Panthers who gobbled up places 12th through 17th. The rest of the Chico scorers where Georgina Quinn (21:34), Yolanda Garcia (21:51), Karla Raigoza (21:53). “I think it’s the sense of strong camaraderie that the team has,” Wilson said. “The girls are a really intense pack, they pack up really well (by) all run similar speeds. That race strategy makes the Shasta girls dispersed more so we get more girls finishing (first).” Chico is the top team in Division III and hopes to topple No. 1 Yreka (D-IV) for the overall section championship as well as hold off Shasta for a league title in a couple weeks. That goal may have become a little simpler as two-time EAL and section champion Natalie Ulloa is out for the season with a stress fracture according to Enterprise coach Jim Deaver, giving opportunity to someone else to claim a section title this year. Others rounding out the top ten were Shasta’s Miranda Avalos was third in 19:56, Paradise’s Talia Swangler was fourth in 20:17, Red Bluff’s Naomi Renfroe (20:33) was fifth and Shasta’s Mae Huang (20:58) was sixth. Enterprise’s top finisher was Chantelle Borges in eighth (21:16), Moran's teammate Laurel Durbin ninth (21:30). PV's top finisher was Nikki Dully a distant 19th (22:28). When it comes to dealing with pressure, Shasta High’s boys cross-country team can be among the Northern Section’s best. The Wolves are once again the team to beat, and they proved it with a first-place finish at the Eastern Athletic League Center Meet on Wednesday at Foothill High School. Shasta, which is the No. 1 overall team in Monday’s midseason section cross-country rankings put together by North State coaches, has been in this position before. It held true to the end of the season in 2012 when it finished as the overall section champion, although none of the current team were involved in that championship run. “We’ve run in front before, we’ve handled that pressure and I think this group of kids will handle it also,” Shasta High coach Doug O’Brien said. “I’d rather be there than have to make up ground.” Shasta finished with 36 points and had three of the top six finishers with Andrew Skoy winning the 5K race in 16 minutes, 40 seconds. The Wolves’ Carlos Manzo was fifth in 17:09, Samuel Grafe was sixth in 17:13, Noah Bland was 11th in 17:32 and Max Richmond was 13th in 17:40. “They run very well as a team; all seven of them run together every practice and all work with each other and encourage each other,” O’Brien said. “We’ve had our 3-4-5s trade places almost every meet so they know it’s all about the team.” Chico was second with 39 points although top runner Jack Emanuel, who won the last EAL Center Meet Sept. 30 in Chico, did not run. The Panthers, who were led by Kellen Pierce’s third-place time of 16:58, had four of the top 10 placers and all finished better than Shasta’s fifth-best runner. Shasta and Chico have each won an EAL center meet, but have yet to face each other with full teams. It shouldn’t matter, O’Brien said, when it comes to the EAL championships back at Foothill’s hilly course on Nov. 5. “We know what they’re missing, we know what we’re missing but I don’t think there will be any surprises other than it will be tight,” O’Brien said. Pleasant Valley was third with 60 points, followed by Paradise (97), Foothill (133) and Red Bluff (141). PV’s Shayne Morrissey finished second in 16:49, and Paradise’s Masen Becerril was fourth in 17:04. Chico’s August Mavis (17:21), Branson Albright (17:25) and Liam Monninger (17:26) finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. A lot of editing by Tom Cushman