Cole Smith and Dos Pueblos’ boys cross country team have earned a trip to the CIF State Meet in Fresno after racing to a runner-up finish in Division 2 at the Southern Section Championships on Saturday at Mt. SAC.
The Chargers came in behind champion Saugus. Simi Valley, Canyon of Anaheim, Westlake, Tesoro and Redondo Union also qualified for State from Division 2 in that order.
Smith paced the Chargers with an individual 6th-place result. His time of 15 minutes flat was 11 seconds better than last week’s performance on the same course at the Prelims Meet.
“Obviously he’s come a long way, not only this season but in the last week,” reported Chargers coach Leslie Roth.
John Greening (25th), Andrew McGuan (28th), Ian Wasjutin (41st) and Chris Wasjutin (42nd) rounded out Dos Pueblos’ scoring. The boys team will be returning to the State Meet for the second consecutive year.
The girls team was not able to advance, missing out on the opportunity by just one spot. Senior Addi Zerrenner, however, made the cut as an individual by lowering her time by 13 seconds from the week before. Zerrenner’s 16:53 was second only to reigning State champion Sarah Baxter of Simi Valley, who won in 16:21. Zerrenner will be making her third trip to the State Meet, having finished 5th in the Southern Section in 2011 and 3rd in 2012.
Natalie McClure and Elaine McClure crossed together in 43rd and 44th at 18:43, Christina Rice was 48th in 18:49, and Tatianna Schluep in 74th in 19:26.
The girls’ 8th-place finish was the school’s best performance ever at CIF-ss Finals.
“I’m really proud of this team,” Roth said of the girls team. “They really surprised me this season with their ability to come together and run fast at the right times.”
