Sonoma cross country teams at 6th in Napa meet

Both boys, girls finish sixth in Napa cross country meet|

The Sonoma Valley High cross country teams Wednesday ran in their third and final Vine Valley Athletic League Center Meet of the season at Alston Park in Napa with both Vintage and Napa high schools hosting.

Vintage won the girls meet with 24 points, Casa was second with 38, Napa third with 89, Petaluma fourth with 129, Justin-Siena fifth with 136, Sonoma sixth with 157 and American Canyon was eighth with 171 points.

In the boys meet, Casa won with 29 points, Vintage was second with 35, Napa third with 97, Justin-Siena fourth with 133, American Canyon fifth with 134, Sonoma sixth with 146 and Petaluma was seventh with 157 points.

In the boys meet, Emmanuel Guzman from Vintage won in a time of 15:50.8.

Sonoma’s Justin Cox finished eighth (17:10.9) which was the first time he’s finished in the top 10 in a VVAL meet this year. “He’s right on track for a strong finish to the season,” said Coach John Litzenberg.

Other Dragon runners included Mason Phillips who was 27th (19:00.7); Drew Henghold, 39th (20:20.7); Zander Casillas, 44th (20:36.8); and Lucas Martindale, 48th (21:03.9).

The girls race was won by Mary Deeik from Vintage in a time of 18:23.6. Sonoma runners included Emma Brophy, 19th (23:01.3); Jocelyn Paredes, 30th (25:27.9); Grace Kiser, 34th (26:08.3); Jasmine Garcia, 36th (26:57.0); and Carmen Carrillo, 38th(27:57.0).

The JV boys finished fourth.

But because of illness, the Dragons were missing key runners in both the girls and boys teams.

“Our varsity girls were down three of our usual top seven due to injury and/or illnesses, and we had to have our top JV girl, Carmen Carrillo, move up to varsity just to score as a team,” Litzenberg said. “I thought the girls who did run today pushed hard and did their best. Hopefully we’ll be fully healthy for our VVAL Championship meet coming up next.”

The boys were down two of their normal five because of a cold virus that is sweeping through the team.

The Dragons are off until the VVAL Championships on Saturday, Nov. 10, at Spring Lake Park in Santa Rosa. The North Coast Section meet is set for Saturday, Nov. 17, at Hayward High School with the state meet set for Saturday, Nov. 24, at Woodward Park in Fresno.

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