San Francisco Section 2019 XC Season in Review

Dec 20, 2019

With Anthony Grover (784) en route to a third consecutive State Division IV title, Lowell's Zachary Parker (right of Grover) ran in stride with the perennial champion, placing sixth overall. (Credit: DeAnna Turner)

This article has been updated to correct the number of SFS titles for Zachary Parker.

Lowell senior Zachary Parker won the San Francisco Section title and improved by nearly a minute year-over-year in placing sixth in the Division IV race at the CIF-State Championships.

His time of 15:33.30 was a PR on the 5K course at Woodward Park in Fresno and a massive improvement from the 16:31.10 he posted as a junior in placing 116th in the State Division I race.

Parker would subsequently lower his PR for 5K when he ran 15:19.90 on the asphalt rain course at Mt. SAC while placing 24th at the Foot Locker West Regional.

Parker's older brother, Alexander, won the SFS title in 2017 (Zachary won the lower-level race). The 2018 section final was not held because of poor air quality.

In team scoring, Parker gave Lowell 5 points as the perennial SFS champions went on to an eighth-place finish in Fresno. Other scorers were sophomores Oliver Witt and Ben Lester (27th and 55th, respectively), senior Owen Choy (83rd) and junior Theodore McDonough (91st) as Lowell slotted ahead of Oaks Christian (SS) by 11 points.

Lowell sophomore Elizabeth Holcombe, who won the SFS title as the Cardinals went 1-2-3-4-9 without another sophomore standout, Jenna Satovsky, who is the section's fastest girl for combined 3-mile and 5K times.

Holcombe (pictured) continued to shine at the State Meet, placing 21st overall in the Division IV Championship and 16th among scoring runners leading Lowell to a 10th place finish.

Satovsky took the line at Woodward Park and placed 38th (30th among scorers). Other scorers at State for Lowell were junior Juliana Chen (76/51), senior Michelle Wong (97/71) and senior Emi Steedman (149/118).

Lowell wasn't the only SFS school represented at the State Meet. Here's a look at others who ran at Woodward Park on Thanksgiving weekend:

In Division I, Charlie Moore, a junior from Lincoln, placed 164th as the only SFS boys representative, and

Maia Piomelli, a junior at Galileo Academy of Science & Technology, and Kiara Neely, a senior at Washington, represented the section in the girls race.

In Division III, Burton Academic had three representatives in junior Jamison Smallwood and senior Daniel Cavanaugh in the boys race and sophomore Lilian Emelife in the girls race.

The only SFS representative in Division V was Naomi Manuel, a sophomore at Academy of Arts & Sciences.