Palo Alto, Woodside boys, St. Francis girls win CCS team titles

Local teams and individuals stood out Saturday at the Central Coast Section cross country championships.

The Palo Alto boys won the team title in Division I, Woodside won boys Division II and St. Francis won girls Division II.

Those three team titlists will advance to the state meet in two weeks. So will the Mountain View boys, third in Div. I, the St. Francis boys, third in Div. II, the Menlo School boys, second in Div. IV, the Priory boys, third in Div. V, the Los Altos girls, second in Div. I, the Sacred Heart Prep girls, second in Div. IV and the Castilleja girls, second in Div. V.

Palo Alto’s Elizabeth Fetter and Castilleja’s Samira Kennedy won individual championships. Fetter won the Division I girls race in 17:58, the second-fastest time recorded by any girl Saturday on the Crystal Springs course. Kennedy won the Division V race in 18:20.

The Palo Alto boys team actually tied for first place in D-I alongside longtime cross country powerhouse Bellarmine, with 49 points. The team title was determined by Paly’s sixth runner finishing ahead of Bellarmine’s sixth runner.

It was Paly’s first CCS boys cross country title since 1986.

Sophomore Grant Morgenfeld was Palo Alto’s top runner, finishing third in 15:17. Carlmont’s Aidan Dimick (14:58) and Mountain View’s Emmanuel Leblond (15:10) placed 1-2 with the two fastest times of the day.

In girls Division I, Los Gatos won the team title with 47 points. Los Altos and Menlo-Atherton tied for second with 56, and the place was determined by the Los Altos sixth runner finishing ahead of M-A’s sixth runner.

Taking second place was vitally important in girls D-I, because only the top two teams in that division advance to the state meet. The top three team placers in all other divisions, except for boys and girls Division III, move on to state.

It’s not the first time the M-A girls missed out on a trip to the state meet after a third-place finish at CCS. And what made this one particularly frustrating was the M-A girls having the fastest combined team time (the times of all five scoring runners added together) of any girls team in any of the five divisions.

“Team scores are determined by places, so you’d have to say the better team won,” M-A coach Eric Wilmurt said. “But the faster team didn’t.”

After Fetter’s first-place finish in the girls D-I race, M-A’s Tatum Olesen was fourth (18:29), Paly’s Hillary Studdert fifth (18:30), the Los Altos pair of Lauren Soobrian sixth (18:31) and Fiona Bodkin seventh (18:40). M-A’s Katie Lorenz, Sofia Melani and Annie Pflaum were ninth through 11th, but it wasn’t enough to send the M-A team to state.

Woodside won the boys D-II race with four runners placing 11th through 18th. St. Francis dominated the girls D-II race with all five scoring runners finishing consecutively between seventh and 11th. Woodside’s Elle Marsyla was fourth in 18:31.

Brothers Justin Pretre (15:29) and Landon Pretre (15:31) went 2-3 for Menlo in boys D-IV.

In girls D-IV, Sacred Heart Prep had four runners finish in the top 10 led by third-place Julia Soderbery and Janie Morganroth in fourth.

Priory’s Levante Palvolgyi took fourth in boys D-V. Perry McElhinny (third) and Daniela Henderson (fourth) followed Kennedy across the finish line for Castilleja in girls D-V.

The top five finishers in each race from non-qualifying teams also advance to state. M-A’s first three finishers in the girls D-I race, Olesen, Lorenz and Melani, advance as individuals as well as Paly’s Fetter and Studdert. In boys D-I, Gunn’s Joshua Gehring and M-A’s Aidan Doherty move on.

Other individuals eligible to take part in the state meet include Marsyla in girls D-II, Menlo’s Grace Tang in girls D-IV and Priory’s Stella Axe in girls D-V.

Full results are available here

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