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If anyone had doubts that the top tier of Division IV cross country runners might spring out of the two valleys, those doubts were put to rest Saturday, Nov. 26, at the Woodland Park cross country course in Fresno.
Both Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley high schools had strong showings at the California Interscholastic Federation state cross country meet.
Girls
Scotts Valley junior Vanessa Fraser shocked the crowd with a time of 17 minutes, 46 seconds to win the girls race outright. Her team finished 10th overall in the race.
San Lorenzo Valley sophomore Anna Maxwell finished eighth and helped her team to second place in the state in Division IV, behind a powerful Junipero Serra High team that set a course record for the division.
Maxwell paced the Cougars with 18:06, followed by Claire MacMillan (14th, 18:32), Abby Sherman (23rd, 19:06), Jessica Germany (45th, 19:39), Jessica Jensen (79th, 20:16), Hyllery Herschberger (108th, 20:54) and Katrina Luque (125th, 21:17).
For Scotts Valley, Fraser was followed by teammates Abby Utic (24th, 19:08), Shannon Youmans (66th, 20:07), Hayley Herber (118th, 21:03), Olivia Gonzales (121st, 21:04), Valerie Morrison (146th, 21:44), and Krista McNulty (167th, 22:38).
Twenty-four teams competed in the race.
Boys
San Lorenzo Valley placed fourth in the state in Division IV, propelled by the steady running of Cody Johnson (17th, 16:04), Nick Hicks (22nd, 16:17), Landis MacMillan (37th, 16:34), Jacob Hicks (60th, 16:51), Matt Abernathy (113th, 17:26), Stephen Bracken (116th, 17:28) and Branden Caldwell (182nd, 19:01). The team finished with 182 points, just 12 points away from a second-place finish.
Scotts Valley’s lone representative, Scott Edwards, finished the race in 54th place in 16:49.