FRESNO, Calif. – Freshman Sunny Schranz crossed the finish line in 19 minutes, 26.3 seconds to lead St. Francis in the Bill Buettner 5-kilometer race, the marquee girls' event at the ASICS Clovis Invitational cross country meet at Woodward Park Saturday.
The Troubadours placed 19th out of 21 full teams with 435 points, taking on the likes of JSerra Catholic, Ventura and Buchanan. The Woodward Park course is the site for the CIF state championships, making Clovis an annual destination meet for California's top programs.
The Clovis Invite features multiple divisions for varsity: small, medium, large, extra large and the showcase Buettner (or Rob Bruenner for boys) events. When all races are combined, St. Francis placed 42nd of all 160 varsity teams, with Schranz posting the 131st-place time among 1,493 individuals.
Schranz placed 65th overall and fourth among freshmen in the Buettner race, behind JSerra's Reese Holley (19th), Buchanan's Molly Sundgren (27th) and Saint Francis' Julia Salamacha (51st).
Behind Schranz, St. Francis fielded Grace Dunham in 72nd (19:38.7), Ryann Strawn in 96th (20:11.6), Emma Dobson in 115th (20:40.5) and Pamela Vargas in 115th (20:40.5) for the rest of its scoring. Mia Hollar and Amelia Bell posted displacing finishes of 135th and 144th, respectively. Hollar's appearance marked her first with the varsity crew. She typically has run with the Troubies' frosh-soph group, and her 21:28.0 time would have put her eighth in that event.
Ventura's Sadie Engelhardt won the Buettner 5K with a torrid 16:39.3 time. She is the reigning Gatorade California Cross Country Runner of the Year and the defending national prep champion, and recently made national news as the first high school girl to sign an NIL deal with New Balance.
Later in the day, St. Francis placed 16th in the frosh-soph 5K and 10th in the junior varsity 5K, both of which combined all divisions into single events. Sophomore Jordan Brace went 22:39.7 to place 29th in the frosh-soph, with Morgane Bertran (73rd), MacKenzie Olmstead (117th), Chloe Harrison (128th) and Milena Bonnici (178th) completing the team score of 418 points.
Junior Caroline Kesich led the Troubies in the JV race in 58th at 23:37.6, with Lucie Pickering Pick coming through the chute next in 76th. After that, St. Francis formed a relatively close pack in Chloe Rhodes-Nguyen (95th), Mykaela Le (96th) and Ashley Sexauer (100th) rounding out the team total of 286, with Ashlyn Smith just two places behind that group in 102nd.
St. Francis returns to action next Saturday at the Cordova site of the HOKA ONE ONE Postal Nationals meet. This is a series of two-mile events held throughout the country on different weekends, with all times combined into single team and individual leaderboards.
2023 ASICS CLOVIS INVITATIONAL
Woodward Park (Fresno, Calif.)
Events with SF entrants • Winner plus SF finishers listed
BILL BUETTNER GIRLS' 5K TEAM SCORES - 1. JSerra Catholic, 72; 2. Ventura, 113; 3. Buchanan, 128; 4. Santiago Corona, 128; 5. Los Altos, 165; 6. Saint Francis (Mountain View), 218; 7. Murrieta Valley, 248; 8. Clovis North, 268; 9. Granite Bay, 274; 10. La Cañada, 274; 11. Monte Vista, 310; 12. Claremont, 317; 13. La Jolla, 320; 14. Oaks Christian, 341; 15. Palo Alto, 343; 16. Immanuel, 385; 17. Lodi, 404; 18. Newbury Park, 413; 19. St. Francis (Sacramento), 435; 20. Granada, 446; 21. Pleasant Grove, 450.
BILL BUETTNER GIRLS' 5K INDIVIDUALS - 1. Sadie Engelhardt, Ventura, 16:39.3... 65. Sunny Schranz, 19:26.3; 72. Grace Dunham, 19:38.7; 96. Ryann Strawn, 20:11.6; 115. Emma Dobson, 20:40.5; 130. Pamela Vargas, 21:12.1; 135. Mia Hollar, 21:28.0; 144. Amelia Bell, 22:21.1.
FROSH-SOPH GIRLS' 5K TEAM SCORES - 1. Buchanan, 48; 2. San Juan Hills, 55; 3. Granite Bay, 95; 4. Ayala, 114; 5. Crescenta Valley, 206; 6. San Luis Obispo, 227; 7. Dublin, 242; 8. El Toro, 251; 9. Oak Park, 261; 10. La Serna, 263; 11. Point Loma, 265; 12. Redwood, 273; 13. Maria Carrillo, 301; 14. Canyon, 331; 15. Great Oak, 363; 16. St. Francis, 418; 17. Quartz Hill, 423; 18. Fullerton Union, 513; 19. West Ranch, 573; 20. Frontier, 587; 21. Tulare Western, 588.
FROSH-SOPH GIRLS' 5K INDIVIDUALS - 1. Lily Olsen, Buchanan, 19:54.7... 29. Jordan Brace, 22:39.7; 73. Morgane Bertan, 24:13.1; 117. MacKenzie Olmstead, 25:39.1; 128. Chloe Harrison, 26:12.8; 178. Milena Bonnici, 32:37.1.
JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS' 5K TEAM SCORES - 1. Los Altos, 47; 2. Ventura, 66; 3. Ayala, 107; 4. Tesoro, 108; 5. Claremont, 149; 6. Mt. King, 151; 7. South Pasadena, 176; 8. University (San Francisco), 183; 9. Roosevelt, 234; 10. St. Francis, 286; 11. El Toro, 314; 12. Capistrano Valley, 334; 13. Quartz Hill, 352; 14. Oak Park, 395; 15. Redwood, 408; 16. Roseville, 442; 17. Rio Americano, 464; 18. McClatchy, 485; 19. Dublin, 535; 20. Amador Valley, 544; 21. Frontier, 551.
JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS' 5K INDIVIDUALS - 1. Elizabeth Dimitrashchuk, Buchanan, 19:58.9... 58. Caroline Kesich, 23:37.6; 76. Lucie Pickering Pick, 24:14.6; 95. Chloe Rhodes-Nguyen, 24:34.6; 96. Mykaela Le, 24:39.9; 100. Ashley Sexauer, 24:45.8; 102. Ashlyn Smith, 24:49.4; 113. Zoe Smith, 25:18.3.
