3 area teams and 3 individuals advance to CIF State Meet

Posted: Nov 17, 2012 5:02 PM by Andrew Masuda

The St. Joseph girls, Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande boys cross country teams, as well as three individual runners from other schools qualified on Saturday for next weekend's CIF State Meet. Nearly one dozen Central Coast teams competed at the CIF-Southern Section Cross Country Finals at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. Due to the wet weather, runners completed the 2.96 mile rain course.

The top seven teams in each division automatically advanced to the State Meet, which is next Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The St. Joseph girls finished sixth out of 16 teams in the Division 5 race. Junior Beth Rigali led the Knights with a ninth place finish in 17:48.

The Arroyo Grande boys advanced to state with a sixth place finish in the Division 2 race. Trevor Cowan led the Eagles with a 23rd place finish in 14:38, while Jonathan Corley finished 36th in 14:48. Righetti finished twelfth out of the sixteen teams and did not advance. Alex Deleon led the Warriors with a 43rd place finish in the race in 14:53.

The Paso Robles boys moved on after a fifth place finish in the Division 3 race. Aidan Farrell, a senior, led the Bearcats with a time of 14:50, which was good for 25th place out of 119 runners. Kyle Ravera finished 32nd in 14:55. San Luis Obispo's Josh Ernst came in 30th in the D3 race in 14:53.

The top five runners in each division, who's team did not finish in the top 7, qualified as individuals to the State Meet. San Luis Obispo's Micayla Rennick, Santa Ynez High's Jacob Carey and Morro Bay's Austin Lay made the cut and will compete next week in Fresno. Rennick finished 9th in the girls Division 3 race in 17:16. Carey, the Los Padres League champion, came in sixth in Division 4 with a mark of 14:50, while Lay finished 15th in 15:07 to advance.

Several other teams competed at Mt. SAC, but did not advance to state. The St. Joseph boys came in 11th in Division 5 led by Stuart Adam's 47th place finish. Orcutt Academy's Nick Murillo came in 20th in that race in 15:31.

The SLO High girls finished ninth in Division 3, the Santa Ynez boys finished 9th and Morro Bay in 12th in Division 4.

Nipomo High runners Alex Hascall (61st place, 15:56) and Kyra Meko (31st place, 18:23) competed as individual runners in Division 4. The Templeton girls finished 10th in Division 4. Sophomore Dana Alpert led the Eagles with a 22nd place finish in 18:09.