Sonoma Valley girls take cross-country meet at Maxwell Park

Sonoma's cross country teams got out of the blocks in the three-way Home Interlock meet at Maxwell Farms Regional Park on Wednesday, where they hosted Petaluma and Rancho Cotate high schools.

The girls continued to show their strength by scoring ahead of both of the neighboring schools, finishing with five of the top six runners in the meet, and seven of the top ten.

Senior Amy Stanfield was first across the finish line, with her 18:23 time over the 2.75-mile course. She was followed by Jenna Ebert, also a senior, whose 18:44 finish put her at seventh place on the list of ten fastest times for Sonoma girls at Maxwell, since Coach John Litzenberg started keeping records in 2008.

Sophomore Malia Cashel came in third with a 19:42 time, barely ahead senior Aliya Blinman at 19:44. Other top ten finishers among the Sonoma girls were seniors Eliza Neeley in sixth (20:30) and Trinity McGuinness in seventh (10:57), and sophomore Emma Brophy in eighth place (20:59).

“Our varsity girls ran really well as a team, and they all had season-best times on our course,” said Litzenberg. Sonoma's familiarity with the wooded, hilly route may have worked to their advantage in the sport.

The varsity boys had a solid showing, with enough points to best Rancho Cotate but not quite enough to take first over Petaluma. “Most of our boys had season-best times on the course,” noted Litzenberg.

Justin Cox finished in second place with a time of 15:57, breaking 16 minutes on the challenging course, though the sophomore's time was well behind the blistering pace set by Petaluma's Jack Dunbar, at 15:02.

Sophomore Mason Phillips came in fifth with a time of 16:43, making him just the second Sonoma boy this season to finish in under 17 minutes. Junior Liam Sheldon came in ninth (17:31) and sophomore Connor Barry came in tenth (17:38).

Next league stop for the Dragons cross-country teams is Wednesday, Sept. 27, against Analy High at Ragle Ranch in Sebastopol.