Three of CA's elite girls cross country teams -- Granite Bay, Whitney, and Oak Ridge -- will compete for Sac-Joaquin Section division titles and CIF-State Meet berths on Saturday at Willow Hills.
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Sac-Joaquin Section - Finals
| Gender | D-I | D-II | D-III | D-IV | D-V |
| Boys | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Girls | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
BOYS
Division 1
Jesuit is the perennial champion under legendary coach Walt Lange and there's no reason to believe anything will change Saturday, led by Brandon Moreno, Jacob Swanson, and Chase Cressman. Jesuit is going after its 14th section title. Individually, everyone will be chasing Davis senior Ryan Mitchell, who is one of the state's absolute elites. Folsom's Nathan Short, the SFL champion, and teammate Ethan Smith, Rocklin's Devin Pereira, and Lincoln-Stockton's Jansen Gillig are among the podium favorites. Mitchell placed third here as a junior with Swanson fourth, Short sixth, Gillig seventh, Moreno eighth and Smith 10th.
Division 2
Vacaville appears loaded again and well stocked to defend its title led by Donovan Cheruiyot and Colton Walker. But don't count out a threat from the boys at Whitney, led by David Hurren, Mateo Delgadillo, Noah Lopez, Nick Herrmann, and Callum Turner. They rolled with a 21-second scoring gap as the top team at Rough Rider on the State Meet course. Individually, 2021 runner-up Josh Chu of Ponderosa is now in D-3 leaving Cheruiyot as the top returner. He was third last year with Walker fifth. Cosumnes Oaks senior Matthew McDonald was impressive at Sub-Sectionals and a repeat performance would put him on the podium, if not on the top.
Division 3
Pondersa's Chu will battle the Oakdale lads up front looking to keep Caleb Cavanaugh from defending his title. Cavanaugh and Dax Daley lead a loaded Oakdale crew not only looking to defend here but prove in two weeks that its top state ranking is warranted. Junior Omar Alsaidi has been among Oakdale's front-runners with depth of senior Nathan Luca, and a trio of juniors in Jackson Oliveira, Mason Oliveira, and Abner Gonzalez. Placer's Julian Doak, a top returner from D-4 last year, ran No. 2 at Sub-Sectionals behind Chu. Nevada Union senior Wesley Selby was fifth here as a junior. He ran No. 2 for NU at Sub-Sectionals behind sophomore Josh Griffin. Other top returners from the '21 final include Lincoln senior Jaden Trujillo, who was sixth, and Beyer senior Nathaniel Olsen, who was seventh.
Division 4
This is Sonora sophomore Broen Holman's division to dominate. Holman (center in photo) essentially tied senior teammate Adin Dibble for the division title last year and has had a much stronger sophomore fall running a 3-mile PR at Woodbridge and his 5K PR at Clovis. Placer won the division team title last year but is now competing in D-3 with the likes of Oakdale. El Dorado was the runner-up here last year but also is now in D-3. Summerville senior Cruz Vasquez, second in D-5 last year, ran fifth at Sub-Sectionals behind Jacob Moffett of St. Mary's, Samuel Nealon of Christian Brothers, and Nathan Horton of Hughson, the division's dominant team last week and the favorite here. Seniors Ezra Arambula and Owen Bullock, and junior Dominic Haupt all placed among the top 15 for Hughson last week.
Division 5
As is the case with Holman in D-4, Sacramento Country Day sophomore Andrew Burr (pictured with glasses) is the class of this division. He is the defending champion, winning last November by nearly 24 seconds. At Sub-Sectionals, he was 93 seconds ahead of everyone but junior teammate Aakash Arumugam, who was 27 seconds back. Freshman Gunner Lyon, seventh at Sub-Sectionals, was the top runner at Frogtown for Vacaville Christian Academy, the defending section champions. Senior Austin Hannick was the top runner for last week's team leader Central Catholic.
GIRLS
Division 1
A year after placing 11th, more than two minutes behind her sister Anna, Louisa McNatt is poised to keep the SJS D-1 title in the family. She's had an outstanding senior season in absence of her sister (2021 State Meet champion who has missed the season with an injury) but a win here is far from guaranteed. Davis senior Norah Dulaney 26-plus seconds ahead at Sub-Sectionals. And while there is another 23 seconds of separation from that meet to No. 3 Allie Harmon of Rocklin, it's assumed there was a controlled level of effort at the qualifier opposed to what we will see at the final. Inderkum sophomore Maeve Mahony was sixth here last year and Lincoln-Stockton senior Emma Kaufman was eighth. Both cruised to top-six times at Sub-Sections. It figures that everyone will be chasing Oak Ridge in the team competition. The Trojans, among CA's elite teams, is led by seniors Brooke Butler and Quinn Walker, freshman Adriana Ingargiola, and a quartet of sophomores in Addison Clinton, Nola Boucher, Fiona Gordon and Madelynn Burns. The Trojans, looking for a third consecutive SJS title, have eyes on a top podium spot in two weeks at the State Meet.
Division 2
The most intriguing race of the meet is Girls D-2 with three of the elite teams in the state led by defending champion Granite Bay. Sophomore Grace Baxter, senior Carly Foster, junior Emily Allison and sophomore Lizzy Hansen all placed among the top 10 at Sub-Sectionals. That race was won by Oregon State-bound Whitney senior Katie Kopec, whose 17:41.00 was the fastest of the meet, regardless of division. Kopec leads a strong Whitney lineup that includes her sister Ava Kopec, a junior, freshman Jane Landon, juniors Grace Scott and Sophie Bowen, and freshmen Sophie Hutchinson and Addison Ewers. Whitney, a consistent team runner-up, is looking for its first section title. And then there's St. Francis. Runners-up here last year, the Troubies regrouped after graduating a couple of key seniors and a coaching change, but appear right back in the thick of it under Chad Worthen. The Troubies grouped together at Sub-Sectionals last week with senior Paige Quigley, junior Grace Dunham, senior Daphne Witherell, and juniors Kayla Towne and Ryann Strawn all crossing within 0.2 of each other. That's one heck of a 1-5 split! But can they collectively crank up a repeat to challenge Granite Bay? Foster was the runner-up to Kopec last year with Allison seventh and Hansen 10th. Also of note, at the Sierra Foothill League (SFL) Finals Granite Bay, despite a 2:22 scoring split, was a one-point winner over Whitney (1:49 split) and 10 points in front of third-place Oak Ridge. Three individuals to watch not from this trio of teams: Junior Kiah Aitken and sophomore Samantha Stone, both of Lodi, and freshman Brenna Mannion of Vista del Lago.
Division 3
Del Oro's Angeline Gutierrez was fifth here last year as part of a section championship team. With some of Del Oro's returners opting to compete in club rather than high school, the division title appears up for grabs. Oakdale was second last year and is led by Kassidy Fmura, who was second at Sub-Sectionals behind Placer junior Anna Soares (pictured). Soares placed fifth last year as part of a title team in D-4. Ponderosa looks strong with seniors Addie Payne, Loralye Clements, sophomore Samantha Scholz and junior Elena Grohs out front. El Dorodo is led by junior Lily Johnson.
Division 4
Jade Biitner of Colfax and Annie Wild of Ripon placed third and sixth, respectively, and are the top returners in this division. Wild ran third at Sub-Sectionals and Biitner was fifth. Colfax junior Jesse Redding was a runaway winner. Christian Brothers sophomore Elise Henderson was some 27 seconds back. Colfax brought it last week, scoring 24 points. Behind Redding was freshman Micah Redding in fourth, senior Carlee McCabe in sixth and sophomore Sophia Sunding in eighth. Senior Alicia Romani was seventh and freshman Paige Rupert was 10th also for Christian Brothers, which will look to challenge Colfax, last year's division runner-up.
Division 5
Foresthill's McKenna Lechner was fourth last year and first at Sub-Sectionals. Bret Harte's Kadyn Rolleri (pictured) was third here last year and second at Sub-Sectionals. Argonaut's Maeve Klement, the runner-up last year, ran No. 6 at Sub-Sectionals. Rolleri leads a Bret Harte team looking to defend its title. A 36-point performance at Sub-Sectionals appears a solid warm-up. Juniors Addison Heermance and Skylar Mayers, freshman Alya Jodie, and sophomore Caitlin Johnson were all top-19 last week. Bret Hart has a combined 15 SJS titles, tied for the most in the section.
Photos by DeAnna Turner, Stacy Soriano, James Leash, and Dan Tyree