CHICO, CA -- The Eastern Athletic League schools converged upon Hooker Oak Recreation Area to compete at the first of two center meets to be held this fall. Runners were treated
with pleasant early fall conditions under sunny skies with light winds and temperatures in the lower to middle 80s. Preseason favorites to contend for the league title this season are
Pleasant Valley and Chico for the boys while the Chico girls have no rival in the league.
The varsity girls race saw Viking junior Holly Alchin, running cross country for the first time this season, take the early lead and it proved to be a lead she would not relinquish.
The battle for second had two from Chico, juniors Ava-Marie Csutoras and Mira Sidhu and last year's section champion Elizabeth Merrill from Shasta. Csutoras had the early advantage
over Merrill and Sidhu but a strong second half to the race saw Sidhu wrestle control of the runnerup position from her teammate while Merrill did a slow fade from contention.
In the end, Alchin won going away with a time of 19:45. Mira Sidhu took second in 20:28 with Csutoras third in 20:32 and Merrill fourth in 20:48. Chico finishers filled in five of
the next six places to easily come away with the team win. Lillian Jeffords, running her first race of the season, took fifth. She was followed by teammates Claire Edwards sixth,
Reese Avistur seventh, Sienna Jones eight. A second Shasta runner, Dixie Lee broke up the Panther parade in finishing ninth as Chico freshman Ally Sasaki and Kelan Payne came in a more
distant 10th and 11th. Panthers had the low score of 20 points, Pleasant Valley followed in second with 60 pts, Shasta was third 81 pts, Foothill fourth 85 pts and Red Bluff fifth with
134 pts. Enterprise did not have a complete team, having only one runner.
The varsity boys race saw a large lead pack stay together for the first circuit of the course with PV's Jackson Hein and Chico's Charlie Brennan duking it out up front while being
closely followed by Vikings Nolan McLaughlin, Quentin Clarke, Mark Doud and Austin Hein with Panther Matt Anderson also in the mix. The pack strung out significantly as they looped
back around the course for the final time with Brennan and Jackson Hein stretching their advantage over the rest of the field.
Hein held off Brennan to win 16:09 to 16:12, fine times on the relatively flat not nevertheless challanging course. Four more Vikings followed to ensure the victory with McLaughlin third,
Clarke fourth, Doud fifth and Austin Hein sixth. Chico's Carson Sasaki
stopped the bleeding in taking seventh. He was closely followed by Foothill's James Tindell eighth and teammate Nigel Daly in ninth. Rounding out the top ten was Viking Lucas Jimenez. Pleasant
Valley won with a meager 16 points, Chico a distant second with 43 points. Also scoring were Foothill 83 pts, Shasta 110 pts, Red Bluff 134 pts and Enterprise 146 pts.
Chico won both JV races handily with Panther Phuong Le cruising in with the overall win for the girls race as Chico won by taking the first five scoring places. The Panther boys, led by
Wyatt Bilinski, captured six of the first seven places to also come away with a comfortable win (16 pts) over runner-up Foothill (53 pts) and third place Pleasant Valley (67 pts).
