Both the San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley high school boys and girls cross country teams are headed to the Central Coast Section Championship meet this weekend after strong performances at last weekend’s Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League meet.
On a surprisingly hot fall day, San Lorenzo Valley High sophomore Cody Johnson helped his team to the 2010 Santa Cruz Coast League title by winning the boys championship, while Scotts Valley High sophomore Vanessa Fraser held off San Lorenzo Valley rival Anna Maxwell at the finish to capture the individual girls title.
Cougars roll
The Cougar boys hammered the competition on their way to their second consecutive league title as a team.
Johnson won the race in 16 minutes, 20 seconds, followed by teammates Nick Hicks (16:31) in second and Landis MacMillan (16:41) in third.
Five of the top 11 runners were from SLV, with Alex Rinkert (eighth, 17:26) and Branden Caldwell (11th, 17:33) rounding out the team’s scoring.
The SLV girls hit a stumbling block in the Aptos team they had beat earlier in the season, but they still placed second, led by Maxwell, a freshman, who finished second in 17:56.
Abby Sherman (seventh, 19:07), Claire MacMillan (13th, 20:18), Emily Lamb (17th, 20:42) and Raquel Yeomans (19th, 20:44) rounded out the Cougars’ scoring.
Falcons head to third championship
The Scotts Valley boys team, led by runners Tyler Edwards (17:00), Scott Edwards (17:00) and Andrew Brockman (17:01), claimed the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishes, followed by teammates Sean Kennedy (14th, 17:55) and Andrew Ivanova (20th, 18:24). The team’s second-place finish in league was the school’s highest, besting its third-place finishes in 2008 and 2009.
The girls team, led by Fraser’s win, finished fourth but qualified for the CCS meet at large. Abby Utic (12th, 10:16), Olivia Gonzalez (14th, 20:37), Mackenzie O’Toole (18th, 20:43) and Hailey Roumimper (20th, 20:47) completed the scoring for Scotts Valley.
This is also the Falcons’ third consecutive trip to the CCS race.
SCCAL team scores
Boys
SLV – 25
Scotts Valley – 49
Aptos – 65
Harbor – 110
St. Francis – 151
Santa Cruz – 155
Soquel – 170
Girls
Aptos – 51
SLV – 54
Santa Cruz – 60
Scotts Valley – 61
St. Francis – 150
Harbor – 153
