The San Diego Section cross country championship meet awards team and individual honors in five enrollment divisions following the completion of the league championship season.
This year’s meet took place Saturday, Nov. 16, at Balboa Park’s Morley Field, a hallowed running venue for section harriers. First-place individuals in each race are recognized as division champions while the lowest scoring teams in each race are recognized as division champions.
Both boys and girls run 2.96 miles — that is, the same course.
The top 20 place-finishers in each race receive medals — the top 10 finishers are recognized as First Team All-CIF.
The gargantuan event also serves as a qualifier for the California state championship meet Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Qualifying for the state meet is a bit more complicated. Each division and gender race has its own criteria based on historic success by local runners.
In the boys races the following number of teams advance: Division I (three teams), Division II (three teams), Division III (three teams), Division IV (two teams) and Division V (four teams).
In the girls races the following number of teams advance: Division I (three teams), Division II (three teams), Division III (four teams), Division IV (three teams) and Division V (three teams).
That seems straightforward enough. Besides team entries (based on scoring at the section finals), individuals may also qualify to compete at the state meet. That’s somewhat more complicated.
The top five highest-finishing individuals not on a qualified team advance to compete in Fresno. But there’s a hitch.
- In divisions where two teams qualify for the state meet, individuals must qualify from the top 12 place-finishers.
- In divisions where three teams qualify for the state meet, individuals must qualify from the top 14 place-finishers.
- In divisions where four teams qualify for the state meet, individuals must qualify from the top 16 place-finishers.
There are no alternates for the state meet.
That being said, last Saturday’s section championship meet was highly successful as multiple runners repeated as division champions.
Overall, three Metro Conference runners qualified to compete at the upcoming state championship meet. They include both Metro-Mesa League runners of the year: Eastlake junior Jaelyn Williams and Bonita Vista senior Sebastian Aranda. along with Southwest sophomore Carlos Martinez, the Metro-South Bay League boys runner of the year.
“The kids ran really well,” meet co-director Julian Valdez said. “The Grossmont Conference and Coastal Conference did a great job in getting the course ready to go. The best racing I saw was the Division I boys (decided by 1.2 seconds at the finish line). There were a lot of close races. It was good to see the South Bay do well. “
Running royalty
Williams repeated as the Division I girls individual champion with a time of 17:22.3. She held off a late charging Katja Dunayevich, a senior from Canyon Crest Academy, by three seconds after opening up a large lead.
Del Norte sophomore Eliza Hong was third in 17:28.5. A sizable gap followed the top three place-finishers in the 128-deep race.
The three team qualifiers included Del Norte (first, 33 points), Canyon Crest Academy (second, 88 points) and Poway (third, 101 points).
Besides Williams, the five individual qualifiers included Helix sophomore Kate Weaver (fifth, 15:56.9), Patrick Henry senior Hannah Aguirre (sixth, 18:14.4), Rancho Bernardo sophomore Riley Biddle (eighth, 18:33.8) and Torrey Pines senior Charotte Sach (12th, 19:05.4).
Despite missing the first half of the season with an injury and wisdom teeth extractions, Williams seemed pleased with her finish.
“I’m just happy I was able to come back after not racing for a while,” she said. I had a late start to the season. I did kind of go all-out. I had a large gap. But I was really working hard.”
Williams placed fourth at last year’s state meet.
Vista senior Jarett Cruz struck gold with a first-place finish in the Division II boys race in 15:46.8 but Steele Canyon senior Micah Senn grabbed silver with a second-place finish in 15:49.6.
The Grossmont Conference finished the 133-deep race with four First Team All-CIF runners. Aranda just missed a top 10 finish in 11th place in 16:22. That turned out to be the final individual qualifying slot by 2.4 seconds.
“I feel kind of shocked, accomplished, satisfied,” said Aranda, who finished undefeated during league competition. “That was one of my goals, along with winning the league championship. To finish all of that feels good.”
Scripps Ranch (first, 73 points) nosed out Mt. Carmel (second, 76 points) for the team championship while Vista followed in third place with 91 points.
Knocking on the door to the state meet were Steele Canyon (fourth, 94 points) and Grossmont (fifth, 97 points).
Sage Creek junior Josiah Bowman turned in one of the top times on the day at 15:28.0 to win the 110-deep Division III boys race. Martinez finished seventh in 16:13.3 to earn the third of the five individual state qualifying berths behind the West Hills duo of senior Daniel Vestemean (fifth, 16:03.4 and sophomore Ryan Revak (sixth, 16:12.4).
Southwest placed fifth among the 15 scoring teams.
The state-qualifying berths are the first for both Aranda and Martinez (third at the preceding conference finals).
