CALIFORNIA STATE MEET

Fireworks In Division 5 Boys Race Reverberates Through California State Meet; Sadie Engelhardt Wins Third D2 State Title; Evan Noonan Wins Third D3 Title

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Ken Martinez PHOTOS | INTERVIEWS/VIDEOS

The talent dispersed across five divisions, and thus 10 races, made for a California state meet full of intrigue and drama to the very last race. 

And the final race, the Division 5 boys, produced the fastest time of the day as well as an automatic team qualifier to Nike Cross Nationals by virtue of second place in the all-division merge. 

Division 5, that's for schools with 600 or fewer students. But that didn't matter to Eyan Turk of Woodcrest Christian, who blasted through Woodward Park with a time of 14:32.5 to push up into the Top 10 all-time at the state meet venue.

Behind Turk, Landon Pretre of Menlo ran the second-fastest time of the day, 14:38.8, and led his team to an unthinkable result: 28 points for the state title, and second overall in the merge. The private prep school in Atherton with an enrollment of 600 is headed to Portland in a few days. 

The day started cold, with runners wearing gloves and hats, in some cases for the early races. 

It began with an epic showdown in the Division 1 girls race, where No. 3 Trabuco Hills won its first state championship by defeating No. 4 Buchanan, 48-57. 

Santiago (Corona) star Rylee Blade bounced back from a loss at the Southern Section final and won the state title with 16:46.5. Trabuco Hills' Holly Barker was next in 16:58.9. 

Trabuco Hills won the head-to-head matchups with Buchanan at Nos. 1-4 and survived an 18-36 advantage for the Bears at No. 5. 

Both teams secured the automatic team berths to nationals in a week. 

In the Division 1 boys race, Beckman scraped out the title with 139 points, beating Bellarmine College Prep (154) and Redondo Union (157), but no where near as impressively as it had won the Clovis Invitational. 

At Clovis, Beckman ran a team time of 1:17:00; at state, it was 1:18:10. 

Conor Lott of Clovis North won the race in 15:04.4. He is the first champion from the Central Section in 17 years. 

In Division 2, legendary coach Walt Lange and Jesuit celebrated a record 10th state championship and the first since 2006. The Marauders scored 73 points and earned the top spot in the merge, which means the team is going to nationals. 

Glendora, in second place, would hold onto third place in the merge and was later selected for an at-large berth to NXN.

J.R. Lesher of Hueneme won the D2 title in a time of 14:43.0 that held up as the fastest of the day until the D5 boys showed up.  

Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura won her third straight D2 girls title and did it with relative ease. The Woodward Park course record holder ran a time of 16:57.6 and won comfortably by more than 30 seconds. She also needed to run fast enough to be one of the top five of the day, and was ultimately the third-fastest. 

El Toro won the girls D2 title with 131 points. 

Abigail Errington of South Pasadena led her team to the Division 3 championship with 106 points and she beat a standout field that included three-time champ Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery, in a time of 16:57.5. Thomsen was second in 17:21.6, which was good enough for the fifth automatic individual spot to nationals.

Dana Hills' Evan Noonan won his third consecutive state title in a time of 14:43.7, beating runner-up Liam Miller of South Torrance by eight seconds. 

Campolindo won the team title with 153 points. 

Division 4 belonged to Chiara Dailey of La Jolla, who ran 16:44.4 for the fastest time of the day. The San Diego Section champion declined the NXN offer to focus on Foot Locker, and its West region qualifying meet next weekend.

 J Serra Catholic put together a strong performance and scored 34 points, impressive enough to earn a No. 3 placement in the merge and an at-large bid to NXN by early evening. The team put three across the finish line in the top seven. 

Eli Fitchen-Young of Santa Cruz won the boys D4 title in 14:41.3 to earn his way back to Nike Cross Nationals. Last year he was one of four individuals to make it out of the D4 final. Oaks Christian won the team title with 61 points. 

Amelia Sarkisian of Brentwood won the girls D5 race in 17:31.8. Branson ran to the team crown with 82 points. 

When the dust had settled, all five divisions earned representatives that will compete next weekend in Portland. 

Team Champions - 

Division 1 - Beckman boys 139 points, Trabuco Hills girls 48 points - RESULTS

Division 2 - Jesuit boys 73 points, El Toro girls 131 points - RESULTS

Division 3 - Campolindo boys 153 points, South Pasadena girls 106 points - RESULTS

Division 4 - Oaks Christian boys 61 points, J Serra Catholic girls 34 points - RESULTS

Division 5 - Menlo boys 28 points, Branson girls 82 points - RESULTS

CALIFORNIA NXN QUALIFIERS