Santa Cruz High senior Lila Roake, who last weekend earned a runner-up finish at the section championships, was the top Santa Cruz County runner on Saturday at the CIF State Cross Country Championships in Fresno.
She was one of nine county individuals who advanced to the state meet, along with the Scotts Valley boys team and the San Lorenzo Valley girls team.
Scotts Valley, led by a 43rd-place finish by Lukas Berg Mills, compiled a team score of 235 to place seventh as a team in Division IV. SLV, behind Azalea Groleau’s 34th-place finish, placed 15th as a team in D-IV after compiling a team score of 373.
No one from the county was better than Roake, though. Competing at state for the fourth time, Roake completed the 5-kilometer course at Woodward Park in 18 minutes, 1.3 seconds to finish seventh overall in the Division IV girls race.
She was the top finisher from the Central Coast Section, beating even The King’s Academy’s Anna Mokkapati, who defeated Roake for the CCS crown at last weekend’s meet in Salinas. Mokkapati on Saturday placed ninth overall in 18:18.2.
Roake’s time on Saturday was an improvement of approximately 36 seconds from her time at CCS.
Audrey Suarez, of the Southern Section’s Mayfield High (Pasadena), placed first overall in D-IV with a time of 17:44.7.
Roake’s teammate, junior Gabby Hughes, recorded a time of 18:47.8 to place 16th overall, while Scotts Valley’s Jessica Kain followed in 23rd with a time of 19:02.8.
Groleau’s 19:16.5 led the Cougars, who boast a youthful roster and should be well positioned to return to state in the years to come. Groleau is a sophomore, while Kayla Penny, a junior, recorded an 80th-place finish in 20:05.5.
Senior Maya McCabe followed in 117th place with a time of 20:46.7, freshman Kaleigh Pennington ran a 20:50.9 to place 122nd, and sophomore Summer Hipwell rounded out the team’s scoring with a 21:09.0 in 136th place. Seniors Camryn Crouch (22:12.3) and Ellie Bourret (27:18.2) rounded out the team.
In Division I, Watsonville’s Layla Ruiz recorded a 19:06.3 to place 63rd overall — the sixth CCS runner to cross the finish line.
Nellie Rubio-Pintor, meanwhile, was the seventh CCS runner to cross in the Division V race. A freshman at Ceiba College Preparatory Academy in Watsonville, Rubio-Pintor recorded a time of 20:49.0 to place 64th overall.
Boys cross country
The sophomore Berg Mills, who led Scotts Valley for the first time all season at last weekend’s CCS Championships, again set the pace for the Falcons with his 43rd-place finish in 16:34.3.
The inner competition that’s driven Scotts Valley all season appeared evident Saturday. Because following Berg Mills was junior teammate Mitchell Ross, who finished in 44th place in 16:34.5.
Freshman Jeremy Kain (16:50.0), senior Darren Mudge (16:58.0) and junior Logan Ross (16:59.4) were all close behind, earning respective finishes of 64th, 73rd and 78th place to round out the Falcons’ scoring.
Sophomore Patrick Goodrich also figured into the team’s scoring. His 113th-place finish in 17:19.3 supplied the Falcons the tiebreaker over Sage Creek for seventh place.
Sage Creek’s sixth runner, Shervin Bahmanpour, placed 137th in 17:41.2.
Rishi Chandiramani (17:36.0) also competed for Scotts Valley.
In Division III, Aptos senior Josiah Sweet finished with the top time among individual qualifiers from the county, placing 56th in 16:33.8. Soquel’s Eli Ainsworth, also competing in D-III, clocked a time of 16:47.1 to place 79th.
In Division V, St. Francis High senior E.J. Kelly, making his fourth trip to state, placed 28th in 16:51.3. Pacific Collegiate’sConnor Spangrud was 97th in 17:48.5.
