Eastlake High School sophomore Jaelyn Williams, fresh off a fourth-place finish at the California state championship meet Nov. 25 in Fresno, obviously had to make a decision on her next step, so to speak.
As fast as she is on the running course, she couldn’t be in two places at the same time. She had to choose between the Footlocker West regional meet at Mt. SAC in Walnut and the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland.
The Footlocker regional is a qualifier for Saturday’s Footlocker Nationals at Balboa Park’s Morley Field while the Nike Nationals also offers national exposure.
Williams chose the Nike Nationals and it proved to be a good choice after finishing seventh in the nation as the top runner from California to earn All-American honors.
Williams timed 17:39.9 on the muddy 5K course. She represented herself well against top competition from across the United States.
Addy Ritzenhein won the race in 17:10.4, followed by Bethany Michalak in 17:16.4. Emily Wisniewski placed third in 17:37.4 while Isabel Allori was fourth with the same time.
Williams finished just an eye-blink out of fifth place. Rachel Forsyth was fivfth in 17:38.6, followed by Gianna Rahmer in sixth place in 17:38.9. Williams was seventh one second back.
The selection process for the Nike Nationals is very competitive as only five individuals from California could participate. A total of 65 state champions were included in this year’s field.
It was a great end to an otherwise superlative season.
“Going into Nike Cross Nationals I had worked really hard this season, and my goal was to see what I could do if I ‘finished on empty’ when lined up against the nation’s best,” Williams said. “But I didn’t expect that when I finished on empty that I would place as high as seventh in the nation.
“The race was extra challenging this year as it was extremely slippery with mud and even a small lake we had to run through twice on the course since it had rained for three days leading up to the race. It felt great to perform so well despite these crazy conditions. I am really proud of what I did up in Portland.”
JoJo Jourdon won the 5K boys race in 15:16.5 ahead of runner-up Cameron Todd (15:18.5).
State of mind
Williams timed 17:31.4 to place fourth among Division I girls at the preceding state championship meet in Fresno. She was well behind race-winner Rylee Blade, a junior from state champion Corona Santiago, who scorched the 178-deep field in 16:48.5.
Williams finished five seconds off third place.
Williams was one of two Metro Conference state qualifiers. Bonita Vista senior Ian Ridge (16:37.8) finished 103rd in the 202-deep Division II boys race.
•Cathedral Catholic captured the Division III girls state championship with 83 points to nose out Campolindo, which finished runner-up with 92 points.
•Sophomore Lindsay Zimmer (fourth, 17:45.1) was the Lady Dons’ top place-finisher while senior Alexandria Pena (seventh, 18:03.6) was next up. Cathedral Catholic placed three runners among the top 14 finishers in the 215-deep field.
•La Jolla sophomore Chiara Dailey won the Division IV girls individual state championship in 17:09.2.
The top 40 runners — 10 from each region — will compete in each gender field in Saturday’s Footlocker Nationals.
The girls race is scheduled for a 9:15 a.m. start, followed by the boys race at 10 a.m.
The Footlocker West Regionals took place Dec. 2 in Walnut. Dailey won the girls race and will represent the West team in Saturday’s elite field.
Liberty Lions lead East County at state with sixth-place finish
East County runners were well represented at this year’s California state cross country championship meet Nov. 25 in Fresno. While not everyone can be a champion – team or individual – local runners did their best and were rewarded accordingly.
Alpine’s Liberty Charter placed sixth as a team in the Division V boys race after finishing third in its division at the San Diego Section finals Nov. 11 at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.
Senior Ivan Guzman led the pride of Lions across the finish line in 12th place among the 202 runners in the 5K race. Guzman timed 15:41.7 — well behind state race-winner Eyan Turk (14:59.2), a junior from Woodland Christian.
Calvin Christian senior John Bitner was the top San Diego Section finisher in ninth place in 15:33.0, followed by Guzman. Francis Parker senior York Bourgeois (15:47.1) placed 15th as the No. 3 section place-finisher.
Bourgeois won the Division V section individual title as a prelude to the state meet. Guzman finished fourth behind Santa Fe Christian junior Evan Smith (second) and Bitner (third).
At state, Liberty Charter was the section’s highest-scoring team with 202 points to place ahead of seventh-place Calvin Christian (245 points) and ninth-place Francis Parker (251 points).
Lions head coach Daniel Sanchez said the team’s goal at the state finals was to place ahead of both Calvin Christian (section runner-up) and Francis Parker (section champion).
Mission accomplished.
Besides Guzman, Liberty Charter’s five scorers also included senior Joel Bray (46th, 16:32.2), junior Aiden Burr (53rd, 16:42.5), senior Samuel Morales (81st, 17:08.2) and sophomore Caleb Acosta (86th, 17:10.0).
Crystal Spring Uplands won the state team championship with 111 points, followed by Yosemite (second, 130 points), San Francisco University (third, 143 points), Menlo (fourth, 183 points) and College Preparatory (fifth, 191 points).
Cougar country
Both Steele Canyon’s girls and boys teams qualified for this year’s state meet. The Lady Cougars finished 21st among the 24 scoring teams in the Division II girls field while Steele Canyon finished 22nd among the 24 scoring teams in the Division II boys field.
Junior Diana Lopez led the Lady Cougars on the course with a time of 19:33.5 to place 87th in the 196-deep race. Sophomore Danica Ferrez finished 116th in 20:01.5 while junior Shelby Coleman (20:10.3) placed 125th. Freshman Vianney Casillas (21:26.4) placed 167th while sophomore Ariel Hoffman (22:19.8) was 179th.
Scripps Ranch won the section title ahead of Steele Canyon while Vista (third place) topped Grossmont (fourth place).
Scripps Ranch finished 14th in the girls standings in Fresno with 353 points while Vista (579 points) was 22nd — once again behind the Lady Cougars.
Ventura won the Division II girls team title with 85 points over runner-up Whitney (114 points). Montgomery junior Hanne Thomsen was the division’s top individual in 17:10.2 while La Cota Canyon senior Gioanna Lopizzo placed second in 18:32.0.
Steele Canyon finished third at the section finals to qualify for the state meet, trailing boys team champion Scripps Ranch and runner-up Vista.
Junior Micah Senn (100th, 16:36.2), junior Aldo Covarruvias (118th, 16:46.2), junior Miguel Casillas (124th, 16:48.1), senior Luke Hoffman (138th, 16:56.5) and junior Matthew Binsfield (175th, 17:36.7) were Steele Canyon’s top five scorers in the 201-deep boys race.
Vista (416 points) was 17th in the boys field while Scripps Ranch (573 points) was 23rd. Santa Barbara won the boys team title with 91 points.
Individual qualifiers included Helix freshman Kate Weaver (Division I girls), Santana freshman Harper Diaz (Division III girls), Grossmont sophomore Karci Brownsberger (Division II girls), Grossmont senior Suhey Arce (Division II girls) and Mt. Miguel senior Garrett Cloyd (Division III boys).
•Cloyd finished 34th in 15:53.7 in his 214-deep race, fourth among section runners.
•Diaz placed 44th among 215 finishers in 19:11.7 while Weaver finished 62nd among 177 finishers in 19:04.7.
•Brownsberger finished 103rd among 196 finishers in 19:52.1 while Suhey placed 148th in 20:33.6.
