FRESNO, Calif. – Senior Grace Dunham improved from 32nd place after the first mile to 10th at the finish line, leading St. Francis to 262 points and seventh place in the Division III girls' 5-kilometer race at the CIF State Country Championships, held at Fresno's Woodward Park Saturday.

Dunham entered the chute with a time of 18 minutes, 7.8 seconds, edging West Covina's Becky Osorio by a tenth of a second and nabbing the final spot on the awards podium. The future UC Davis Aggie ran the first mile in 5:42.0, trailing Vista Del Lago's Brenna Mannion by 0.5, but had moved up to 13th by the time she returned to that marker.

Ryann Strawn was next to finish for the Troubadours, placing 55th at 19:19.8. Sunny Schranz, the lone non-senior in Saturday's SF delegation, was 85th (19:49.4) with Kayla Towne and Pamela Vargas coming through in 98th (19:58.2) and 101st (20:01.0), respectively. Similar to Dunham, Vargas improved 20 places from her first split to her finish: 121st at the one-mile mark to 101st at the line.

Emma Dobson (134th, 20:43.4) and Amelia Bell (150th, 20:58.1) were the Troubie displacing finishers.

As a team, St. Francis took part in a relatively tight battle for the sixth through ninth spots out of the 25-team D-III field. Maria Carrillo placed sixth at 259 points, with the Troubies three points back. Then only another two ticks separated Yorba Linda in eighth (264) with University City an additional three points off in ninth at 267.

St. Francis, winners of the Sac-Joaquin Section, bested its fellow section qualifying teams. Del Oro came through in 10th (267) with Placer in 12th (313). Furthermore, the Troubies were third among the Northern California programs in the D-III field. Defending champion Campolindo ceded its title to Cathedral Catholic of the San Diego State, 83 to 92. Then three Southern Section teams snared third through fifth: Santa Margarita (187), Dana Hills (195) and West Torrance (236).

Montgomery, the No. 2 North Coast Section finisher after Maria Carrillo, placed 11th despite three runners in the top 10: Hanne Thomsen (1st), Seelah Kittelstrom (5th) and Amrie Lacefield (8th).

Dunham becomes the sixth Troubie in the last 15 years to finish in the top 10. Lauren Larocco finished 6th at the 2013 Division I meet (after 11th in 2012), Isabella Fauria placed 10th in both 2016 (D-II) and 2018 (D-II), Cate Joaquin took fourth in 2019 (D-II), then Tatiana Cornejo nabbed fifth in 2021 (D-II). Not surprisingly, all of those runners went on to compete at NCAA Div. I schools: Larocco for Portland, Fauria for New Mexico, Joaquin at Georgetown and Cornejo for Cal Poly. Dunham and Towne both committed to UC Davis earlier in November.

2023 CIF STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Woodward Park (Fresno, Calif.)
Events with SF entrants • Winner plus SF finishers listed

DIVISION III GIRLS' 5K TEAMS - 1. Cathedral Catholic, 83; 2. Campolindo, 93; 3. Santa Margarita, 187; 4. Dana Hills, 195; 5. West Torrance, 236; 6. Maria Carrillo, 259; 7. St. Francis, 262; 8. Yorba Linda, 264; 9. University City, 267; 10. Del Oro, 279; 11. Montgomery, 307; 12. Placer, 313; 13. La Costa Canyon, 314; 14. Shadow Hills, 327; 15. Point Loma, 340; 16. Las Lomas, 367; 17. Thousand Oaks, 378; 18. Burlingame, 380; 19. Redlands East Valley, 383; 20. Sacred Heart Cathedral, 414; 21. Monache, 522; 22. Chico, 523; 23. Wasco, 613; 24. Verdugo Hills, 704; 25. Galileo Academy, 753.

DIVISION III GIRLS' 5K INDIVIDUALS - 1. Hanne Thomsen, Montgomery, 17:10.2.. 10. Grace Dunham, 18:07.8; 55. Ryann Strawn, 19:19.8; 85. Sunny Schranz, 19:49.4; 98. Kayla Towne, 19:58.2; 101. Pamela Vargas, 20:01.0; 134. Emma Dobson, 20:43.4; 150. Amelia Bell, 20:58.1.