California State Meet - November 25
Woodward Park - Fresno, CA
On a clear day on Thanksgiving weekend, high schools from all over California converged at Woodward Park in Fresno for the State Meet. The first race was the smaller school or division V races.
Division V
At 8:30 the division V boys lined up to cool temperatures. One of the pre-race favorites, Landon Pretre of Menlo Schools, was out due to injury which effected the individual and team race. Eyan Turk of Woodcrest Christian took the early lead and opened a five second lead at the one mile mark. Another pre-race favorite, Benjamin Bouie of Crystal Springs Uplands closed the gap at the two-mile mark. Ultimately, Turk created a gap on Bouie to win in a time of 14:59.2 with Bouie second in 15:04.6. Turk's time tied for first all-time in division IV, sharing the record with Trevor Reinhart of Marin Academy (2014) and Cooper Teare of St Josephs (2016). Bouie's second place finish helped Crystal Springs defend their state title with 111 points, Yosemite finished second with 130 points and SF University finished third with 143 points.
At the one mile mark in the girl's division V race, fourteen girls were within a second of the lead. By mile two, Elsa Krummel of Bay School extended the lead. This should not be a surprise as Krummel won the small school race at the Clovis Invitational. Krummel won in a time of 18:06.3 with Ella Mogannam of Lick-Wilmerding finishing second in a time of 18:11.7. Crystal Springs Uplands won the title last year and this year they were in a battle with Immanuel. One of the top runners for Crystal Springs Uplands fell around the two-mile mark, but got up and helped lead their team to a team victory (winning in a tie breaker over Immanuel). SF University finished third and made the awards stand.
Division V photo gallery is HERE
Division I
Jason Parra of Millikan, Izban Felix of Beckman, Owen Franck of Mira Costa and Omar Reyes of El Camino led the D I boys at the mile mark. By mile two Parra and Franck were battling back and forth. Parra won the division I title in 14:56.8 to gain an at-large invitation to NXN and Brett Ephraim of San Clemente closed to finish second in 14:58.6. Ephraim's San Clemente team dominated the D I team competition with 48 points with Great Oak second with 102 points and Trabuco Hills third with 119 points. San Clemente earned a spot for NXN and later Great Oak received an at-large invitation to NXN. San Clemente's team time of 76:28 places them fifth all-time in DI and Great Oaks team time of 77:35 puts the tenth all-time in DI.
Rylee Blade of Santiago (Corona) opened an early lead over Holly Barker of Trabuco Hills at the mile mark and the gap widened with Blade winning in 16:48.5 and Barker finishing second in a time of 17:05.0. Blade's time of 16:48 places her fourth all-time in division I. Barker and third place finisher, freshman Sydney Rubio of Huntington Beach, fourth place finisher, Jaelyn Williams of Eastlake, received NXN invitations. Meanwhile the team race was a nail biter as Santiago was in a battle with three-time defending DI champion Buchanan. Santiago edged Buchanan by a point with Trabuco Hills finishing a close third. Santiago's 89:00 team time also made them the fastest team in the history of the State Meet. Buchanan's CIF Central Section champion, Elle Lomeli, did not finish the race which impacted the scoring. Santiago received the automatic qualifier for NXN and later Buchanan received the at-large invitation to NXN.
Division 1 photo gallery is HERE
Division II
The boys D II was up next on Saturday. Twelve athletes were within a second of each other at the mile mark and the race heated up to the two-mile mark. One of the race favorites, Anthony Fast Horse, of Ventura suffered an injury in the race and lost contact with the leaders in between the mile and two-mile mark. Central Coast Section rivals Grant Morgenfeld of Palo Alto and Aydon Stefanopoulos of Los Gatos pulled away from the pack at the two-mile mark. Stefanopoulos eventually took control of the race by running 14:58.4 and Andreas Dybdahl of Santa Barbara finishing second in a time of 15:05.3. Later Stefanopoulos received an at-large individual invitation to NXN. Dybdahl's second place finish helped pace his Santa Barbara team to a state title. Ventura and Newbury Park finished second and third to receive the team trophies.
Sadie Englehardt of Ventura seemed determined to set a fast time on the Woodward Park by opening a 22 second lead at the mile mark and then 40 second two-mile lead. Englehardt won by over a minute with a D II State Meet course record of 16:40.7. Englehardt only trails Simi Valley's Sarah Baxter on the all division list. Englehardt also received an NXN individual invitation. Arielle Avina of Murrieta Valley finished second in 17:41.9. Ventura girls won the team title with 85 points and Whitney of Sac-Joaquin Section and St. Francis of the Central Coast Section finishing second and third.
Division II photo gallery is HERE
Division III
Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery (Santa Rosa) and Gioana Lopizzo of La Costa Canyon led a fast pace at the mile mark of the DIII race. By mile two the two-time defending champion Thomsen looked like she was going to be the third time defending champion. At the end Thomsen successfully defended her title winning in a time of 17:10.2 with Lopizzo finishing second in 17:32.0. Thomsen's 17:10 time moved her second all-time in the DII division (moving her 2022 time to third place). Thomsen received an automatic bid to NXN and Lopizzo received an at-large NXN invitation. At the two-mile mark, it appeared Campolindo was going to win their fourth straight DIII title, but Catholic Cathedral ran a tough last mile to win the title. Campolindo finished second and Santa Margarita finished third.
Joshua Bell of Templeton and Evan Noonan of Dana Hills led the boys at the mile mark and then at the two-mile mark Bell took almost a three second lead over Noonan. In the last mile, Noonan passed Bell and created a 17 second gap to take the win in 14:35.3. Noonan defended his DIII title and also broke the DIII course record held by Austin Tamagno of Brea Olinda set in 2015. Bell's second place time of 14:52.3 places him third all-time in DIII. Some pretty storied athletes are ahead of Noonan on the Woodward Park course including Leo, Lex, Nico Young, Colin Sahlman of Newbury Park and German Fernandez of Riverbank. With a senior year remaining, Noonan has a shot at history next fall. The team race was expected to be between Dana Hills and defending champion Oakdale and that is how it played out. Dana Hills captured the team crown with 42 points, Oakdale second at 66 points and West Ranch third with 211 points. Dana Hills team time of 76:19 and Oakdale's 77:24 placed the one and two all-time for division III. Dana Hills received an automatic bid for NXN and Joshua Bell received an automatic bid to NXN.
Division III photo gallery is HERE
Division IV
Emmanuel Perez of Cathedral won this race last year and for most of the race Lucan Cohen of Albany, Broen Holman of Sonora and Eli Fitchen-Young of Santa Cruz kept him company. Perez on his second title in a row with a time of 14:45.1, Cohen at 14:45.9, Holman at 14:46.4 and Fitchen-Young at 14:49.5. The four runners pushing each other on the course paid off in multiple ways. Their times are #2, #3, #4 and #5 on the DIV all-time list and all four received automatic bids to NXN. St. Francis of La Canada-Flintridge defended their DIV title and posted the fastest team time in the history of DIV with a team time of 79:19.
Chiara Dailey of La Jolla was on a mission in the girls DIV race. She pulled out with four second lead at the mile mark and did not look back. Dailey won in 17:09.2 and Summer Wilson of JSerra finished second in a time of 17:31.6. Dailey's time of 17:09.2 places her ninth all-time on the DIV list. Defending DIV champion Payton Godsey of Oaks Christian was out due to an injury. JSerra successfully won their third title in a row with a score of 40 points and their team time of 89:41 places them as the fastest DIV school in state history. JSerra also received an automatic bid to NXN. Palos Verdes finished fourth last week at CIF SS Finals and finished second at the state meet and La Jolla finished third.
Division IV photo gallery is HERE
Look for photo galleries of NXN next week!
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