In the final tune up before Saturday’s Sonoma County League Meet, both the Sonoma Valley High boys and girls cross country teams Saturday, beat Analy in a make-up meet.
The boys won 24-31, while the girls won 19-40.
For the boys, Justin Cox won his second meet of the week covering the 2.75-mile course at Maxwell Park in 15:07. Liam Shelton was third overall in a time of 17:09, Mason Phillips was fifth (17:30), Ryan Hengehold was seventh (17:57) and Evan Raffaini was eighth (17:57).
“The win made me proud,” said Coach John Litzenberg, “as we had two of our usual top five runners not show up to the meet.”
“Justin (Cox) had his second stellar race of the week,” Litzenberg continued. “He took charge of the race from the beginning and pulled away from Analy’s top runner over the last mile or so to win by 16 seconds. He also ran his best time ever on the Maxwell course, 15:07, which moved him up from eighth to sixth on the all-time Sonoma Boys list for our course.”
Other Sonoma runners competing included Alexis Castillo, Derek Armstrong, Lucas Martindale, Gabe Gissell, Joseph Silvi, Toby Ford-Monroe, Benny Hernandez, Cian Martin, Miles Gabon and Luis Esteva.
In the girls’ race, Amy Stanfield was first in a time of 18:11, Jenna Ebart was third in 19:06, Aliya Blinman was fourth (19:06), Eliza Neeley was fifth (19:25), Malia Cashel was sixth (19:27) and Trinity McGuinness was seventh (19:37). Other runners included Grace Kiser and Jasmine Garcia.
“It was a dominating win with our top six girls all finishing in the top seven overall,” Litzenberg said. “This puts our varsity girls at 5-0 against SCL opponents for the regular season.”
The only SCL meet the Dragons couldn’t make-up after the fires was against Elsie Allen, whose school did not re-open until last Monday, and Litzenberg said they only had one girl on their roster.
“Amy (Stanfield) led from start to finish, winning by almost a minute, finishing in a season best time of 18:11,” ?Litzenberg added.
The Sonoma JV boys won too, 28-30.
After the meet, the Dragons saluted their seniors, Aliya Blinman, Jenna Ebart, Helena Goodman, Cian Martin, Trinity McGuinness, Eliza Neeley and Amy Stanfield.
The team will be competing in the SCL meet on Saturday at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa. Starting time is 9 a.m.
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