FOLSOM, Calif. – Junior Grace Dunham and Kayla Towne and seniors Paige Quigley and Daphne Witherell formed a tight pack among the top 15 finishers of the Division II varsity girls' 5-kilometer race, leading St. Francis to a third-place finish and a state championship berth at the Sac-Joaquin Section cross country championship meet at Willow Hills Reservoir Saturday.
The Troubadours finished third with 72 team points and snared one of the four automatic qualifiers to the CIF state championships, held annually at Fresno's Woodward Park on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Dunham led SF in 10th overall place with a time of 19 minutes, 28.7 seconds, with Towne close behind at 19:31.9 and Quigley trailing in 12th at 19:32.9. Witherell followed in 14th with a 19:40.7, with only Vacaville freshman Khloe Delatorre (19:38.4) interrupting the run of consecutive Troubie finishers.
Ryann Strawn posted St. Francis' No. 5 score in 28th (20:25.7) while Emma Dobson and Kelsey Sutch displaced in 41st and 50th places. Whitney won the Division II team title with 33 points, while Granite Bay edged St. Francis by a single point with 71. Vista Del Lago placed a relatively distance fourth with a 130-point total, but the D-II race is the only division on either the girls' or boys' side with four tickets to the state meet. All other divisions have only two or three AQs.
The first St. Francis squad to run Saturday was the frosh-soph crew, which took third among the six-team field with 76 points. Sophomore Carly Hall led the Troubies in 11th (14:14.8), good for one of the individual medals. Chloe' Hickey followed in 20th, with Mykaela Le (26th), Ashlyn Smith (28th) and Stella Davenport (30th) coming through the chute within a seven-second span to account for the remaining scoring. Zoe Smith and Kyra Lueras placed 36th and 37th, respectively, as scoring displacers.
Bella Vista and Granite Bay battled for the frosh-soph title, with the Broncos' 37 outdueling the Grizzlies by just four team points.
Finally, senior Remi Vrilakas and junior Magdalena Becerril respectively crossed the line in sixth and seventh to lead the Troubies to a runner-up finish in the all-division junior varsity race. St. Francis scored 53 points, comfortably ahead of Whitney (68) but also well behind Davis (28). Pamela Vargas placed 13th overall, with Amelia Bell in 18th and Ava Ellis in 21st to complete the JV scoring. Seniors Olivia Huerta and Grace Himmelmann represented the displacing finishers in 22nd and 24th, respectively, while Sarah Charles cross in 32nd overall.
The section championship meet is also the last event of the cross country season with sub-varsity events. The seven varsity Troubadours will compete in the 12:30 p.m. Div. II race at the CIF state championships on November 26. Tickets for this meet are available exclusively through GoFan (direct link: https://gofan.co/app/events/662389?schoolId=CIF).
2022 CIF SAC-JOAQUIN SECTION CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Willow Hills Reservoir (Folsom, Calif.)
Events with SFHS entrants only • Winner plus SFHS finishers listed
GIRLS' DIV. II VARSITY 5-KILOMETERS TEAM SCORES - 1. Whitney, 33; 2. Granite Bay, 71; 3. St. Francis, 72; 4. Vista Del Lago, 130; 5. Lodi, 151; 6. River Valley, 164; 7. Rio Americano, 171; 8. Vacaville, 192; 9. Rodriguez, 199; 10. Woodcreek, 202.
GIRLS' DIV. II VARSITY 5-KILOMETERS INDIVIDUALS - 1. Katie Kopec, Whitney, 18:17.3... 10. Grace Dunham, 19:28.7; 11. Kayla Towne, 19:31.9; 12. Paige Quigley, 19:32.9; 14. Daphne Witherell, 19:40.7; 28. Ryann Strawn, 20:25.7; 41. Emma Dobson, 20:57.6; 50. Kelsey Sutch, 21:25.2.
GIRLS' DIV. II FROSH-SOPH 3.4-KILOMETERS TEAM SCORES - 1. Bella Vista, 37; 2. Granite Bay, 41; 3. St. Francis, 76; 4. Vista Del Lago, 108; 5. Whitney, 116; 6. Golden Valley, 142.
GIRLS' DIV. II FROSH-SOPH 3.4-KILOMETERS INDIVIDUALS - 1. Makayal Galvan, Vacaville, 13:19.3... 11. Carly Hall, 14:14.8; 20. Chloe' Hickey, 14:54.4; 26. Mykaela Le, 15:19.3; 28. Ashlyn Smith, 15:22.0; 30. Stella Davenport, 15:26.4; 36. Zoe Smith, 15:37.6; 37. Kyra Lueras, 15:40.2.
GIRLS' DIV. I-V JUNIOR VARSITY 5-KILOMETERS TEAM SCORES - 1. Davis, 28; 2. St. Francis, 53; 3. Whitney, 68; 4. River Valley, 153; 5. Colfax, 159; 6. Atwater, 162; 7. Hilmar, 202; 8. Christian Brothers, 210; 9. Ponderosa, 229; 10. Lodi, 230.
GIRLS' DIV. I-V JUNIOR VARSITY 5-KILOMETERS INDIVIDUALS - 1. River Salinas, Davis, 19:25.0... 6. Remi Vrilakas, 21:32.8; 7. Magdalena Becerril, 21:38.0, 13. Pamela Vargas, 22:29.2; 18. Amelia Bell, 22:52.9; 21. Ava Ellis, 23:02.9; 22. Olivia Huerta, 23:07.1; 24. Grace Himmelmann, 23:14.4; 32. Sarah Charles, 23:45.5.
