SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Tatiana Cornejo, junior Paige Quigley and sophomore Emma Dobson were announced as the Most Outstanding athletes for the varsity, junior varsity and frosh-soph teams, respectively, as head coach Melanie Cleland honored her top performers at the St. Francis High cross country year-end awards banquet Wednesday night.
The banquet wraps up a 2021 season in which the Troubadours captured the Delta League title, finished second in the Sac-Joaquin Section and eighth in the state.
The choice of Cornejo as Most Outstanding comes as no surprise to anyone following SFHS cross country this season. She won the Delta League individual title, placed among the top 10 to earn All-Section, then added a fifth-place finish at the state championship to earn a spot on that meet's Division II awards stage. Cornejo also runnered-up at the CIF-SJS subsection meet, trailing only Ponderosa's Natalie Wieland in the D-II race.
Cornejo also earned the league's Athlete of the Year nod, and led six Troubie teammates among the All-Delta League slate: senior Cate Joaquin, sophomore Grace Dunham, junior Daphne Witherell, sophomore Kelsey Sutch, sophomore Kayla Towne and sophomore Ryann Strawn. In fact, SFHS scored a perfect 1-2-3-4-5 at the Delta League championship back on October 30. Joaquin went on to finish third at the section championship, one place in front of Cornejo, to help the Troubies lock up the state meet berth.
Senior Claire Silva, who also earned the varsity team's Most Improved award, picked up St. Francis' selection for the Delta League Sportsmanship Award, an honor selected by each team's coaching staff.
The coaching staff of Cleland, Mike Gottardi, Mikaela Vaden and Vendela Williams presented varsity letters and team certificates, while Cornejo presented a highlight video of sights and sounds from the year. The banquet also provided opportunities for select runners from each of the frosh-soph, JV and varsity teams to speak and reflect on their experiences.
A summary of team awards is listed below:
VARSITY TEAM AWARDS
Most Outstanding: Tatiana Cornejo
Most Improved: Claire Silva
Work Horse: Cate Joaquin
JUNIOR VARSITY TEAM AWARDS
Most Outstanding: Paige Quigley
Most Improved: Jill Heskett
Coaches Award: Irene Hales
Work Horse: Allison Williams
FROSH-SOPH TEAM AWARDS
Most Outstanding: Emma Dobson
Most Improved: Anita White
Coaches Award: Carly Hall
Work Horse: Emma Dobson
