It’s on to the State Meet for the Dos Pueblos boys cross country.
The Chargers got a clutch performance from No. 5 runner Jacob Bartholomew to grab seventh place Saturday at the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 finals and qualify for the state championships in Fresno.
Sergey Sushchikh led the Chargers with a third-place finish on the muddy hills at Mt. San Antonio College. Sushchikh covered the 3-mile course in 15:52.
Loyola’s Elias Gedyon was the race winner in 15:47 and Anthony Castro of Glendora was second in 15:52.
Santa Barbara’s Briggs Deardorff placed 20th in 16:17.
Bartholomew finished 90th, but his performance was critical in DP holding off Ayala for the final berth in the state meet.
“He passed two Ayala runners on the way in,” DP coach Leslie Roth said. “Without Jacob we wouldn’t be going to state.”
Sophomore Bryan Fernandez was the second DP runner to finish, placing 52nd in 16:40. The other point-scoring finishers were Max Davis (57th, 16:46) and Alfred Scott (75th, 17:05). Ben York finished in the top 100, taking 94th in 17:18.
Saugus won the team title, followed by Loyola, Claremont, Ventura, Camarillo, Esperanza and DP.
In Division 5, Marla Bonser of Laguna Blanca finished 23rd as an individual entry in 21:15. On the boys side, Parker Lilly of the Owls placed 52nd in 18:07.
The Cate girls finished eighth as a team. Adrian Walsh led the Rams with a 28th-place finish in 21:27. She was followed by Charlotte Bowles (34th, 21:42), Deneli Tietjen (46th, 22:15), Kate Groetzinger (63rd, 23:09) and Luisa Ilvento (79th, 23:52).
