Sonoma girls are 5th, boys 14th in Half Moon Bay meet

Dragons run well against numerous talented teams|

The Sonoma Valley High cross country Dragons ran Saturday in the Artichoke Invitational at Half Moon Bay High School.

The course was 2.33 miles on the Half Moon Bay HS campus, which was mostly flat, including running on the track three times, but had a few short hills, and one long steep hill (about 200 meters) before mile 2 called “Cougar Hill.” There was also a series of about five hay bales that the runners had to jump over twice during the race.

The girls finished fifth out of 11 teams. Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks won with 46 points, Scotts Valley had 56, Branson had 68, James Lick had 123 and Sonoma had 140.

Annabelle Hunter was Sonoma’s top finisher at 33rd in a time of 17 minutes and 4 seconds, Emma Brophy was 36th (17:15), Malia Cashel was 37th (17:19), Jocelyn Paredes was 66th (19:15) and Jasmine Garcia-Flores was 79th (20:12).

The boys finished 14th out of 26 teams. Scotts Valley won with 24 points while Sonoma had 421 points.

Justin Cox was the top Dragon finisher at 38th in 13:36, Drew Hengehold was 125th (15:28), Nate Jordan was 135th (15:38), Zander Casillas was 139th (15:44) and Ryan Hengehold was 152nd (16:11).

“This was a really good meet for us, with both teams placing right about the middle of the pack against some talented teams,“.said Coach John Litzenberg. “For the girls, it’s really nice to have freshman Anabelle Hunter back after a bout with a nasty cold that kept her out of our first VVAL meet last week. Plus our next two girls, Emma Bophy and Malia Cashel, are getting closer to Anabelle, which really helps the team.”

“Our boys also did a great job, especially considering we were missing two of our usual top five runners and our number two runner, Nate Jordan, fell going up Cougar Hill and lost a bunch of time,” Litzenberg continued. “We’re getting stronger and faster collectively, as evidenced by their times.”

Litzenberg also ran in the Coaches Race and finished fourth in a time of 13:59.

The Dragons will be back in action on Wednesday when they compete in the VVAL Center Meet 2 at Spring Lake Park in Santa Rosa.

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